The trip was for business, though the builders and architects who traveled to Carrara, Italy, no doubt derived some pleasure from seeing the lobby of 4 World Trade Center taking shape before their eyes. At a huge stonecutting facility in this Mediterranean town famous for its marble, the Silverstein team inspected the stones that will someday line the lobby of the Fumihiko Maki-designed tower, the first of three Silverstein projects at the site to be completed, with an expected opening of 2013.

As progress at Ground Zero became a palpable reality last year, these exclusive pictures of the lobby's construction and the trip serve as yet another reminder that construction really can happen at the World Trade Center site.

Slideshow: Inside the 4 World Trade Center Lobby. >>

Related: Watch 1 WTC Rise 52 Breathtaking Stories. >>

mchaban [at] observer.com | @mc_nyo