In Deruta, a sacred spot of the Middle Ages holds sacred treasures. In this small Umbria hilltown, a 14th-century Franciscan monastery now houses the first ceramics museum of Italy – founded in 1898 – displaying over 6000 maiolica masterpieces spanning four centuries: The museum’s first name, Museo artistico pei lavoranti in maiolica (Art Museum for Maiolica– workers), embodies…
We’re all so overwhelmed always by the innumerable art treasures ready to welcome us in magnificent churches, famous museums and in many a small chapel down side streets in medieval towns. But ever thought about all those not-to-be-seen treasures in the deposits of the great museums and those uncountable locked up churches and chapels, needing…
Deruta, an Umbria small hilltown south of Perugia….. …..is a veritable open-air museum peppered with maiolica touches in the piazzas, on the walls of homes, over shop entrances,in the backstreets and even in the public gardens just outside the medieval walls: Since the Middle Ages, the Umbrian hill town of Deruta has been a major…
In preparation for my ZOOM presentation May 8, 2021 on Deruta, I needed to see the Museo Regionale della Ceramica, but for now, that museum – like many – is closed due to COVID restrictions. Thanks to the assistance of a friend, I was able to talk to the Assessore alle Politiche Sociali, Cristina Canuti, who immediately offered…
What’s absolutely essential to the production of bellissima glazed earthenware, maiolica? Passione. I very recently spoke to five young women in “la citta’ della ceramica,” Deruta – each one carefully masked – as they worked with painstaking care on the painting of objects in preparation for the second firing in the kiln. They were happy to answer my questions as…
Probably built upon Roman foundations and later devastated by the Goths in the 6th-century and later by the Lombards (6th-8th centuries), the ancient names of Deruta (Ruto, Ruta, Rupta, Direpta Diruta) all give testament to the “breaking down” or destruction and ruin of of this strategic site. Perched on a hill not far south of…
As you exit the upper level of the Basilica di San Francesco, one of the most important sacred and artistic sites in all of Italy, note the aperture in the 13th-century wall on your left. After your explorations of the 10,000 square meters of medieval fresco splendor in the Basilica, immerse yourself in the natural…
Yes, it IS grandiose the 16th-century Franciscan Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli rising up majestically on the plain below Assisi. At first site, one wonders about the reaction of St. Francis, Il Poverello (“the Little Poor Man”) had he ever seen the massive Papal basilica built over his beloved tiny hut-like chapel Porziuncola (“the Little Portion”) and the…
In one of the twenty-eight late 13th-century frescoes in the Basilica Superiore di San Francesco recounnting the life of St. Francis, San Francesco prays before a Byzantine crucifix in a rundown church asking the crucified Christ, “Lord, what do you wish from me?” Francesco’s open hands are perhaps a gesture of astonishment as he hears the reply…
Assisi spreads out serenely on the hill backdropping the Assisi’s War Cemetery where over nine hundred white tombstones stand stalwartly in straight, evenly- spaced rows. like the rows of the proud soldiers buried there who had once marched straight and tall, heads high, behind their commanders. Initially known as the “British Empire Military Cemetery,” the…