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The best thing to do is to track down your local quarry - we have one nearby and they sell and make anything made from stone at a very reasonable price. It would be best to get a builder to construct the stairs then have the steps cut from stone and get the builders to bed them in. I have seen designs totally made from stone but these are likely to be horribly expensive.

There is a company that works with marble and stone right in Bagni di Lucca. I think that they are the ones who provided the marble counter top for my kitchen, but the joiner took care of everything. Worth checking with them: It may be an expensive exercise......

We have just tiled a big room and needen a stone step in a corridor. You should look for a marmista - they have tons of different shades of stone to choose from. We used one in Piano di Coreglia (where I think there are 2 marmistas), and I know there is one in Bagni di Lucca as well (previous post). For an entire staircase I recomend getting several quotes - some like to make extra money from the stranieri...

It is always wise to get more than one quote, but I do take exception to the comment that ��������s are sometimes out to fleece you because you are foreign, it hasnt been our experience after nearly 5 yrs living here. The number of events we used to go to when a bunch of ex-pats main topic of conversation was how they had been cheated. I would suggest that misunderstanding and a total lack of language skills and a lack of effort in trying to learn �������� was the culprit rather than a wish on the ��������s part to be dishonest.