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DERUTA |
| The town of DERUTA is best known for its ceramics and seems to be
devoted to nothing else. Some of the stuff is mass-produced trash, and
some pieces so big you'd need a trailer to get them home, but most is
beautiful - handmade, handpainted and, by general consent, Italy's best.
The Romans worked local clay, but it was the discovery of distinctive
blue and yellow glazes in the fifteenth century, allied with the Moorish-influenced
designs of southern Spain, that put the town on the map. Some fifty
workshops traded as far afield as Britain, and pieces from the period
have found their way into most of the world's major museums. Designs
these days are mainly copies, with little original work, though it's
still very much the place for browsing and buying; avoid the roadside
stalls and head for the workshops of the new town for the best choice
and prices. The old town on the hill isn't particularly compelling, but there's a mildly interesting Museo-Pinacoteca (April-June daily 10.30am-1pm & 3-6pm; July-Sept daily 10am-1pm & 3.30-7pm; Oct-March Mon & Wed-Sun 10am-1pm & 2.30-5pm; L5000/¬2.58). Highlights of the three small rooms downstairs are paintings by Nicoḷ Alunno and Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, but most sections, not surprisingly, are given over to ceramics, largely unremarkable except for a tiled floor (1524) lifted wholesale from the town's parish church. |