Optical properties of ultrathin wires (nanocylinders) of a variety of materials incorporated within the chrysotile asbestos nanotubes have been studied. A high anisotropy of the Raman and optical absorption spectra of the asbestos containing guest wires have been observed. A strong quantum size effect have been found for the asbestos-confined GaAs wires with ∼6 nm diameters. An amorphization of the structure of the asbestos-confined wires have been observed for a number of materials (Se, InSb).