Deruta Ceramics

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Deruta Ceramics are a type of enamelled ceramics produced in the Italian town of Deruta.

1 Overview
2 Raffaello
3 The town of Deruta
4 External links

[edit] Overview

Deruta Ceramics are a typical product of Deruta, a picturesque medieval hilltown in Umbria which is called the "green heart" of Italy. Deruta is considered the world capital of "maiolica" (Italian for enamelled ceramics). After more than 700 years of continuous production, Deruta ceramics are admired around the world.

The local clay has for centuries been ideal for ceramics, whose production began in the early Middle Ages found its artistic peak in the 15th and early 16th century, with highly characteristic local styles, such as the Deruta trademark "Raffaellesco" dragon design created by Raphael (Born Raffaello Sanzio on 6 April 1483 in Urbino).

[edit] Raffaello

Raffaello was a student of Pietro Perugino, "Il Perugino" ("the Perugian") Italian painter, active mainly in Perugia, from which his nickname derives. Vasari says Perugino studied with Verrocchio, about the same time that Leonardo da Vinci was training with him.

In 1553, Leandro Alberti wrote “... the terracotta vases made in Deruta are often mentioned for how well they are made and beautifully decorated. And it is believed that there are no other craftsmen in Italy that can match the work even though there have been attempts to do so...”

[edit] The town of Deruta

Deruta boasts an important state school of ceramics, and over 200 ceramiche workshops, most of which retail their own goods, and, if that were not enough, a number of other retail shops which display and sell pottery products. The town also serves as a center for local farming and various agricultural industries.

There are a number of ruins of very old ceramic furnaces scattered throughout Deruta. In addition to housing the usual governmental offices, the municipal hall houses a stunning Museum of Ceramics. Along the Tiberina road, at the foot of the old town, yet another church - the Madonna delle Piagge - is clad in a colorful array of ceramic tiles, which give one a sense of the entire history of Deruta ceramiche.