The Italian Version of Vera Bradley

Just when I’m not sure what the focus of my next journal entry is going to be, we do something amazing and it becomes the highlight of that week’s post. I think, I hope, that in another life I will become the apprentice to some older Italian artisan woman or man who will teach me the ways of their craftsmanship, designing Florentine marble paper, or sculpting and/or painting authentic Deruta ceramic pieces. Deruta—this is the latest town to which we have had a group excursion, and did so in order to enhance our lessons in Art History class and learn about how the art of ceramics was begun and has been sustained. Deruta is located about an hour and half away from Sansepolcro in the Umbria region, and became (and remains) the hub of ceramic making when trade routes from the east were being established. During the Renaissance, Deruta reached its peak with ceramic making and has become world famous for its classical and modern ceramics. Ceramic pieces were often used to illustrate Biblical stories, and were used for decoration as well as practical everyday dish use. Today, Deruta is still known for its ceramic making and the streets are lined with ceramic store after ceramic store after ceramic store. Each of the shop, bank, pharmacy, and bar signs above shop doors are made of ceramic tiles spelling out the name of the store. Ceramic plates and decorative tiles hang on the side of buildings and decorate street corners. Any free space that can be decorated with something ceramic is done so in the town of Deruta. And really, I can’t blame them—the stuff is beautiful. Our first stop was at Maioliche Originali Deruta, a large family owned ceramic factory that is two generations olds. Here’s a love story for you: Mr. Ranocchia was a supervisor in another ceramic factory for several years where he supervised the painters of ceramic pieces, one of whom he fell in love with. The couple married and opened their own ceramic factory, Maioliche Originali Deruta that they still work in to this day, and have since passed down ownership to their son and daughter.

Kayley says these ceramic pieces look like
"The Italian version of Vera Bradley"

We were fortunate enough to take a tour of the factory, first having a chance to look around the massive store at all of the beautiful, handcrafted ceramic pieces ranging from small tea cups to large vases and tables. Just like in Il Papiro in Florence, I wanted to buy everything, and then wanted to buy even more after I saw the art of how each piece is made—which is what we did next. After being able to look around for a bit, we were taken to the second floor of the factory where each ceramic piece is handmade right there on site. They have one man, Paolo, who uses his pottery wheel to hand make each ceramic piece. He can turn out up to 250 pieces in a day! Once he has sculpted each piece, and it has air dried, it is taken to the kiln for its first firing at a degree of 2000 Fahrenheit. After the first firing (where it gains its terra cotta color), each piece is hand dipped in a huge vat of glaze, where the terra cotta color is covered with a layer of white glaze. Then the artists—who in this factory are the original owners—hand-paint each design and picture onto the individual pieces of ceramic. Once they have painted the design and filled in with color, the pieces are fired again for a final time at a lower temperature, which gives them their glossy look. Each piece is safe to eat and drink off and is simply beautiful. The most incredible aspect for me was the fact that each piece is made by hand during each step of the process—that the care and time is taken to make each piece uniquely beautiful; no two pieces are exactly identical.

After the ceramic factory we headed to the Museo Regionale della Ceramica in Old Town Deruta where we saw lots of exhibits comprised of old ceramic pieces. There we could compare the artisanship and designs of original ceramic pieces to today’s products to see how they differ. Designs and coloring were much simpler when ceramic making originated and they have since grown increasingly more intricate. After the museum we had time to walk around town for a while and we all stopped in every ceramic shop along the way that we could find—and that was a lot of ceramic shops. In one particular shop the owner started bargaining with Kelsey on a price to try and get her to buy his piece, and it should be no surprise considering the competition shop owners must have with their stores located right next door and across the street from one another! It was a fun day and my regret for not bringing enough money with me is cured by the fact that the factory we toured has a website, and ships internationally.

I also have the pleasure in this journal entry to write about the wonderful new friends we have made at the Collegio Regina Elena. Collegio in Italy, and just about everywhere else in the world except for the United States, means high school. However, Regina Elena is not a high school per se, so I will now explain what is a very confusing concept in the simplest way I can manage—especially since a counterpart for this concept does not exist in the United States, making it even more difficult to understand. In Italy, students attend high school for five years before moving on to university if they choose. Upon graduating from middle school, students pick a concentration for their studies in high school—there is a school of communications where languages are taught and learned, a school of science, an art school, and what is called Ragioneria. These high schools are located in various cities—not each town or city has one of each of their own as we are accustomed to having at least one to two high schools per town or district in the States—so students will often travel a ways via bus in order to attend their chosen high school. The Liceo Scientifico high school is located in Sansepolcro, and draws students from all over Italy. The Collegio Regina Elena also located in Sansepolcro was once what is the equivalent to an all-female boarding school, and today houses the students of parents who work for the government and are often having to move so that they can continue to attend the middle and high school they attend without having to change schools constantly. For example, a couple of the young women I met today at the Collegio Regina Elena are from Rome, but stay at Regina Elena during the week so that they can easily attend the Liceo Scientifico high school in Sansepolcro.

There are about 50 students currently residing in Collegio Regina Elena, and they are mostly still female—there are only 15 males living in the Collegio, and were permitted to live on grounds just two years ago. There is only one elementary school student, the rest are middle school and high school aged students and the majority of them tend to live out of town. At lunch time, upwards of 200 students come to Regina Elena to have a meal if they are unable to eat at home with their families due to their parents’ work situation, and then they stay through the afternoon to study, participate in extracurricular activities, and hang out. Regina Elena is basically like an after-school or enrichment program for students who are unable to go straight home after school. We were given a tour of the building, which used to be a monastery so the outside looks a bit like a church. The inside décor is very stately in style, with a huge marble staircase and large glass chandeliers adorning every reasonable sized room. We were able to look inside some students’ “cameras,” bedrooms, and they look just like a college dorm room (especially like Poteat’s long and narrow dorm rooms, for anyone who is familiar with Meredith’s campus). Some of the young women have a room to themselves, some have to share with one other roommate, but the set-up of the rooms is nice and they are given ample storage—anyone who has had to live in a confined space for any long period of time knows how valuable storage space is. After the tour we ended up on the floor that houses the 15-16 year olds and were able to talk to several of the students living in Regina Elena. We chatted with the older high school students who ranged in age from 18-20 and were very sweet (students usually stay in high school until they are 19 years old). They have been invited over for dinner and a movie at the palazzo next Thursday evening, and we’re to go out to dinner with them in town one night soon. I hope, and I’m sure, that our relationship with these girls will develop throughout the remainder of the semester and I very much look forward to getting to know them better and for the chance to practice my Italian. One of the girls knew English very well so tonight we communicated through her, but the others seemed less comfortable with it—which is good news for us because it means we’ll be forced to speak Italian with them! I’m already Facebook friends with three, so I’ll take that as a good sign for now.

Our next travel break is this weekend! Just two more days of class and then we’re off…buon viaggio!

Ciao for now,

Hilary