Cava di Monfiorenzo

The Fantasia quarry, also known as Cava di Monfiorenzo, is located near Rovinj, and covers the surface of 4 hectares. It was declared a geological monument of nature in 1986 as a unique example of limestone deposits and one of the most important and most interesting quarries in the world. The rocks from the Cava di Monfiorenzo quarry are used in providing scientific explanations of the emergence of similar rocks in the world, which contain only some, but not all the evidence and indicators of such emergence type. However, the quarry near Rovinj does. During the Mesozoic era, Istria was a part of the Adriatic carbonate platform for depositing carbonate rocks in its shallow and warm sea. The global lowering of the sea level occurred during the transition from the Jurassic into the Cretaceous period resulting in the evaporations on the platform area, the emergence of deposit cracks and limestone dolomitisation. The quarry shows visible layers of genetically various dolomite types with preserved textural details, indicating blue-green algae activity, the fossilization of cavities emerged due to rotting algae, the sea level oscillations, tide and ebb exchange, successive deposit sea water damping and its drying up. This is why Fantasia or Cava di Monfiorenzo represents the standard for all other rock sites of such emergence type.