Who has never heard of the Grottaglie ceramics raise your hand. To find this little one Apulian town, cradle of the ceramic processing, you have to turn your gaze upwards. Right up there, in the hills of the Murgia extending from Matera a Taranto, the suggestive is hidden Grottaglie.
The beauties of Grottaglie
It would be reductive to speak only of ceramics in front of so much beauty: Grottaglie offers sensational landscapes. Beside the Mount Fellone, on which the city rises, stands the Fullonese ravine. It is a kind of canyon all Italian, about one kilometer long and 40 meters deep. Inside there is a series of caves carved into the rock, where the first settlements developed already starting fromIron age.
Here it is possible to get intoxicated by the smells of a rich vegetation composed of Thyme;, mallow e thistles. In the ravine it is also possible to visit an ancient one rock church of the fifth century, dedicated to the apostles Peter e Paul. Near the ceramics district it is possible to admire the Episcopio castle dating back to the fourteenth century. Over the years it was enlarged and remodeled, and is characterized by a particular style facade barocco. Today it is the center of the cultural activities of Grottaglie: for example, the famous one is staged between its walls exhibition of ceramics , exhibition of the crib.
Grottaglie's ceramics: art without borders
Going up the slope of the hill, you cannot help but notice the neighborhood of shops, fulcrum oflocal crafts. The shops are one with the territory: almost all of them take place in underground environments, or spaces obtained from natural cavities. These have been adapted to contain lathes, and everything needed to create the famous ceramics of Grottaglie.
The treasure of the town in the province of Taranto it is represented precisely by its terrain rich in clay. This mineral is the primary source for the creation of ceramic artifacts. The Grottagliese artisans have handed down a centuries-old tradition from generation to generation: the first artifacts date back to the XNUMXth century. Despite the ceramic tradition affects the whole Puglia, Grottaglie occupies a prominent place: it is the only area in the region to be protected from DOC brand. It was also included in the list of 28 cities of the Italian ceramics.
The artifacts
Among ceramics of Grottaglie the famous "Bianchi". They consist of objects finely decorated with a white enamel, which gives a touch of perfection and sublime elegance. And how to forget the classic "cougar“? It is the symbol of Apulian ceramics, and in its creation the artisans indulge themselves.
Its typical shape that remembers a "knob”Is subject to the artist's imagination. Everyone decorates it according to the own style , own vision of art. The potters of Grottaglie, right in the wake of tradition, they also work in the manufacture of products with character rustic and common use. The enormous ones are proof of this capasoni, the amphorae intended to contain the wine andoil, two other symbols of the local Apulian productions. THE ceramics of Grottaglie cross the boundaries of Puglia: are objects appreciated in all Italy, and also abroad, where the flag of the "Made in Italy".