If you are planning a trip to Italy, make sure to include in your itinerary a visit to the city of Montelupo and its new Museum of Ceramics. You will not regret it. It will offer you a charming glimpse of the beautiful countryside just east of Florence and the thrill of being confronted with one of the most important Tuscan ceramic collections in the world.

Montelupo… you may not be familiar with the name, but you certainly are with its ceramics, which are mostly known in the US as Tuscan ceramics, Florentine majolica, Florence pottery.

As a matter of fact, from the 15th to the 17th century Montelupo was one of the most important ceramic centres in Italy and all the functional and decorative pottery ordered in Florence was made there.

The role played by Montelupo pottery in the history of Italian ceramics was re-defined only a few years ago, thanks to the unexpected discovery of an old well full of kiln shards. This is the reason why the name of this quiet, charming village is not as well known as it deserves to be and why you should not miss a visit to its Museum!

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March 9 – June 29, 2008
Deruta – Italy

Last week Manuela and I went to Deruta to visit a temporary exhibition held at the local Museum of Ceramics.

The exhibition, titled “Deruta pottery interprets Pintoricchio”, is one of the many events organized in Umbria to celebrate the 550th anniversary of the painter’s birth, whose influence greatly contributed to the success of Deruta ceramics during the Renaissance.

The Museum Committee has asked 29 individual ceramic artists and small factories to creatively interpret Pintoricchio’s heritage. The result is very interesting, indeed.

While highlighting the contribution of Bernardino di Betto, called Pintoricchio or Pinturicchio to Deruta pottery, the exhibition implicitly reminds the visitors of the large amount of talent which, six centuries after Pinturicchio, is still at work in this charming ancient village.

The exhibitions features very qualitative ceramic works: most of them are figurative art, a minority is abstract art. We loved the portrait paintings, in the purest style of the Renaissance pieces that built the huge reputation of Deruta ceramics. Continue reading →

A visit to the Museum: Italian ceramics and much more…
The MIC – International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza – is reputed to be the world’s largest ceramic Museum and one of the liveliest art institutions in Italy.
Its collections provide the visitor with a complete overview of the history of Italian pottery and International ceramics, the evolution of pottery making techniques and the evolution of the visual ceramic art into figurative art, sculpture and design.

The collections encompass Italian ceramic works from the Middle Ages to the Present. A nice section displays the “functional” Italian pottery over time from the North to the South of the country: pieces molded for everyday use, whose features are strongly connected to their regional heritage.

Although Italian pottery is the core of the Museum’s holdings, most interesting collections from all over the world promote the understanding and appreciation of International ceramic art and history.

The Museum is namely proud to display important works from the Pre-Columbian America, the Classic Greece, the Roman Age, the Far and Middle East and the largest collection in Italy of Muslim and Hispano Moresque pottery. Continue reading →

March 16 – June 30, 1008
Certaldo, Palazzo Pretorio

This is the Second Edition of a very successful exhibition, organized for the first time last year by the International Ceramic School La Meridiana and the Galleria Gulliver. It is held in Certaldo, a lovely town in Tuscany, not far from Florence and Siena.

The art works will be displayed in an outstanding location: the garden and the interior of Palazzo Pretorio, a very handsome building which could be in itself a reason for visiting Certaldo. The Palace is 1000 years old and it has been recently restored to its original condition. Its facade is richly decorated with ceramic coat of arms, two of them made by Della Robbia. In the interior there are beautiful frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli.

No better location could be chosen to highlight the close relationship between Ceramic Art and the Tuscany countryside, a timeless source of inspiration for ceramic artists.

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February 5 – May 11, 2008
St Petersburg – Russia

The awesome Italian majolicas from Castelli belonging to the Hermitage Fund have just returned to St Petersburg after a very successful tour in Italy.
The State Hermitage Museum will feature them in the Blue Bedroom of the Winter Palace until May 11th, 2008.

The Hermitage collection includes 77 works that were purchased in Italy by Russian art merchants on behalf of the Russian Tsars and other wealthy families between the 16th and the 17th century.
They had excellent taste: they bought pieces painted by the most talented masters in Castelli, such as Carmine Gentile, Carlo Antonio Grue, Pompeo de Bernamonte, Orazio Pompei, Francesco Antonio Grue, Nicola Cappelletti.

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January 23 – May 4, 2008
Bologna – Italy

One of the foremost Italian artists working today, Luigi Ontani (Italian, born in 1943) has redefined the image of the contemporary artist through his works. His installations, ceramic sculptures and tableaux vivants (living paintings) are a landmark in the history of performance art and photography.

Ontani describes his art as “the adventure I live as a person of art”.
As a matter of fact, he uses his own body as the medium for communication and by means of costumes and masks he assumes the fictional identities of his favorite heroes from mythology, fairytales, history and art history. He said: “I live this ambiguity with irony and aspiring to harmony. My art is the adventure I live on myself.”
As the subject of his art, Ontani can live art, create art, and express his love for art.

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