Granite

Granite is the quintessence of durability in architecture. Unlike carbonate materials such as marble and travertine, its silicate-based matrix makes it totally insensitive to chemical attack and mechanical wear, guaranteeing an aesthetic that remains unaltered for centuries.

Granite is an intrusive (or plutonic) igneous rock. It forms when enormous masses of silicate magma wedge into the Earth's crust, cooling extremely slowly over millions of years. Composed of quartz, alkali feldspar and mica, granite has an isotropic structure: it has no preferential orientation or cleavage planes, offering the same immense mechanical strength in every loading direction.

Granite's greatest advantage lies in its chemistry. Being free of calcium carbonate, it does not suffer corrosion from acids. Lemon juice, vinegar, aggressive detergents, acid rain and urban smog do not affect its polished surface in the slightest. Its hardness, equal to that of quartz (6-7 Mohs), prevents steel knives or pedestrian traffic from scratching it, making it the definitive material for worktops and very high-traffic floors.