travelswithalice

August 04, 2006

Deruta

It has been another magical day. On the way to Spoleto, we detoured through Deruta, a dreary town with excruciatingly narrow streets (we crashed into a stone staircase as we backed out of one of several dead-ends) known for majolica ceramics.

We had a surprisingly exciting afternoon. We stopped at a bar for a quick but tasty lunch of white pizza folded over prosciutto and cheese washed down with coffee, all of which the girl at the bar may have undercharged us for, the cost of it seeming so ridiculously low, and it being her first day on the job.

Later, I had a hand at hand-throwing a bowl in the studio of the very charming Mr. Nulli, a local ceramic artist with "many, many years of experience." He pointed out an entry in a guide book that featured him and his studio. He then proceeded to give me a quick hands on pottery lesson.

Across the road, at the Grazia shop, Ubaldo Grazia, fifth generation in the ceramic business, ushered us around several floors of exhibits and studios where 42 artisans work full time.

When I casually mentioned dropping in on the shop of Mr. Nulli across the road, a look of annoyance crossed his face.

“Did he claim to have his own clay?” he wanted to know. “The Grazia family taught everyone in this town everything they know about the business and throughout the years our company has worked hard to make the town of Deruta and its majolica products known all over the world, then these people steal our designs and our customers,” he lamented.

Looking back, I'm not sure what made the town seem dreary. Maybe it was the time of day. Or maybe it was the total absence of any sign of runaway prosperity that to my mind should have been the logical outcome of its centuries of tradition, going back to the Middle Ages, as the center of ceramic art.

Anyway, the afternoon spent in Deruta turned out to be a very pleasant one, made memorable by my one-on-one hands-on training in this very art, right in the town that is famous for it.

Labels: Grazia, italy, majolica ceramics, Mr. Nulli, Spoleto