This small community in the province of Catania lives largely off its wonderful artistic production
After telling the story of the tiny, “non-touristy” hamlet of Granieri, we move a few kilometers towards the municipality of Caltagirone, of which Granieri is a hamlet. Caltagirone, which is in the province of Catania, is about an hour away from the latter and two and a half hours from Palermo. This municipality of about 35,000 inhabitants is known not only for its beauty but also for its splendid, thousand-year-old production of ceramic artifacts. The economy and life of the inhabitants of Caltagirone, who are proud of their art, revolve around this craft.
The Origins of Ceramic Art
The tradition that has made the town of Caltagirone famous dates back to the Neolithic period, with ancient artifacts still in existence, as well as others dating back to the period between the 7th and 5th centuries BC. The abundance of clay soil surrounding Caltagirone made the birth of this production possible. Ceramic production slowed down between the Roman and Byzantine periods, but found a new era of splendor with the arrival of the Arabs in 827 AD, who were responsible for importing the revolutionary techniques of glazing and polychromy, specifically yellow and blue, which are still today the characteristic colors of these ceramics known throughout Italy. The current name also derives from the Arabs: Kalat al Giarun, which according to some versions, means “hill of pots”. Ancient documents testify to the presence of over 100 ceramic workshops in 1500, but in 1693 eastern Sicily was hit by the terrible Val di Noto earthquake, which caused about 60,000 victims, as well as the inevitable destruction of most of the ceramic works of the time.
The rebirth from the ashes caused by what is considered the strongest earthquake in Italian history took place in the 1700s, a century during which Caltagirone ceramics reached the peak of popularity that they still enjoy today. In those years, the houses and churches of Sicily were flooded by them for the first time. Then, in 1918, Luigi Sturzo, a famous politician from Caltagirone, founded the “Regia Scuola Professionale per la Ceramica” (Royal Professional School of Ceramics), further establishing this town as a true center of production. The inscription on the facade of the school today reads “Scuola Artistico Industriale per la Ceramica Luigi Sturzo” (Luigi Sturzo Industrial Art School for Ceramics).
Inside the Luigi Sturzo Art School
To visit the school, we turn to Samuel, a former student and now a collaborator. The first thing he shows us is a room with a small exhibition of holy water fonts curated by Fabio Gulè, a high school teacher. Inside the room, there is an inscription quoting a document from the Municipality of Caltagirone: “The President, Rev. Luigi Sturzo – Deputy Mayor, reports that the establishment of a ceramics school in Caltagirone has always been an ancient aspiration of the citizens and a real and pressing need of the working class.” The school was in fact industrial in size, aimed at small-scale production. But, as Samuel tells us, this is no longer the case.
Due to the latest school reforms, this school in Caltagirone has lost its practical dimension. Until a few years ago, the three main courses were technology, restoration, and the art of ceramics, so the teaching was entirely devoted to this complex art. Today, multimedia components related to production have taken over, to the detriment of the three courses mentioned above, which are no longer taught. Until recently, there were also many more commissions from outside for the school’s students, who have now lost the pleasure of seeing their work exhibited. In this “perhaps positive or perhaps negative” revolution, as Samuel tells us, the number of students has fallen from 500 in 2010 to around 100 today.
We continue our tour of the beautiful school, a former monastery dedicated to St. Gregory. All the classrooms with production machinery are still there, albeit mostly out of use: there is the glazing room, the press, the spray tank, and much more. From the rooftops, you can see almost the entire town, including the Ceramics Museum, which is currently closed pending its relocation due to the instability of the premises. Unmissable, Mount Etna looms in the distance.
The Art of Caltagirone Lives On
One of the main attractions is the staircase of Santa Maria del Monte, the most evocative place in Caltagirone, consisting of 142 steps whose risers are entirely covered with hand-painted majolica tiles. There are several ceramic producers on the staircase, and we enter one of them, but the lady who personally produces all the artifacts does not want any kind of publicity, so we are only publishing a couple of photos that she allowed us to take. She is not interested in getting rich, but only in participating in this wonderful art. Caltagirone is a must-see, as is buying a piece, large or small, of these splendid creations. In a town that still lives off its art today.