SPECIAL DELIVERY.......A Box Arrived From Deruta (Umbria)

A box arrived today. A box sent from Deruta with ceramics. Last spring we went shopping with some friends at Sberna Ceramics. Having picked out a number of things from the enormous selection of pottery we decided that there was no way we could pack this to bring home to New Hampshire. So, we did the next best thing, we had it shipped.

James and I have admired Italian ceramics for years and  always hoped to get a set of dinner ware. When we finally went to Deruta we purchased dinner plates and pasta bowls.  The drive from Panicale to Deruta is beautiful, but on that first trip there we ended up lost more than once. Oh well, it was a good chance to view the Umbrian countryside,  at least for me since James was at the wheel.

The arrival of the box was like having a birthday in September, so much fun tearing open our packages to find the beautiful pieces inside. Everything arrived safely.

A platter we liked for our nearly completed  kitchen.

And here is everything else.

'SBERNA DERUTA ITALY

DIPINTO A MANO'

( painted by hand)

On my way back to the counter at Sberna, I saw this little bowl....I couldn't resist buying it.

The wine coasters are great for the table to avoid messy drips on a linen tablecloth and they make great gifts.

James immediately hung the charger on the kitchen wall. Perfect!

Now the corner of our kitchen has Deruta pottery and a sconce and iron shelf brackets from a Pienza forge, Ferro Battuto Biagiotti.

Here is the store front of Sberna in Deruta, Italy ( Umbria).

If you are in Umbria you must make a stop here.

You know, shopping tires you out and the four of us shoppers were getting hungry.  James suggested lunch in Montefalco at L'Alchimista. 

The restaurant / enoteca is on the lovely main piazza in Montefalco and the food here is excellent. Always seasonal , always delicious!

We selected a bottle of Grechetto to have with lunch. Then, since this is both restaurant and enoteca wine is available for purchase. James bought a bottle of Montefalco Rosso to take back to our Panicale apartment as a souvenir of the day.

WHY ITALY? PERCHE NO! ( Part I, March& April 2015)

It is late December and the first snow has created a landscape of white out my window. The winter has been kind so far, but we still have January and February in front of us to trudge through.

Memories of Italy fill my head and heart as I hear from friends and go back through photos from our spring months spent in that beautiful place, Italy.

So, if you don't mind I am going to share some of the riches of our time in Panicale, Florence , Rome and places that fall between....oh yes, and  friends too.

Our "home" when we are in Italy is Panicale (Umbria), a medieval hill town that looks over Lake Trasimeno.

Looking down from Panicale to the white road 'strata bianca' that cuts its way  through crops of wheat, across the plain. This is what early spring looks like, a welcome carpet of green.

Up and out early, here we are ready for a day out, but first cappuccino Bar Gallo....always!
"Ciao Daniela"!  "Buon giorno Aldo!"

Bar Gallo 

DESTINATION: DERUTA

Deruta Workshop

Handmade. James watching  as a craftsman in this workshop carries on a tradition in ceramics

I love driving down this road under the pines back to Panicale.

Aldo makes a killer Aperol Spritz!

OFF TO FLORENCE TO MEET FRIENDS

Ponte Vecchio on a clear and still spring evening.

Alberti's stunning facade on Santa Maria Novella, which contains numerous masterpieces,one of which is Masaccio's groundbreaking Crucifixion.

Ghirlandaio's masterful fresco with this  procession of women.

a detail from the Spanish Chapel

time for refreshment!

Le Volpi e l'Uva

A favorite enoteca in the Oltrarno and  we  always know ( at least hope)  if we hang out here long 

enough the doors of Santa Felicita will open and a wonderful Pontormo painting will be there for us to see.  But while we wait.....

 SHARING ITALY with FRIENDS

Here are the friends James and I are meeting.....Mark, Andi and Giuletta!

Knowing we would not have time for dinner in a ristorante  before a concert we were all attending that evening, someone suggested room service. Perfect and luxurious. Ah , so it was burgers.

The evenings entertainment was very American....James Taylor in Florence !

Getting a taxi home afterwards was a bit of an ordeal, but with Mark's phone and James' Italian , we all made it back to our hotels!

Meantime, back in Panicale....

a foggy morning walk

and the artichokes are in season!

That is late March and April in Umbria and Tuscany.

Are you seeing any common elements running through these memories. It is becoming clear it has something to do with, art, people, food, wine and a beautiful landscape.

May  2015 will be next, we  will see if that trend continues!

TODI TO DERUTA (Umbria)

Last year we went to Deruta to buy plates, something we have wanted to do for a long time since James and I are both smitten with hand painted Italian ceramics. The town of Deruta is not terribly distant from Panicale and a drive through the landscape of Umbria is reason enough to make the journey.

We often visit Orvieto a remarkable town built high on tufa. Orvieto boasts of one of Italy's finest cathedrals with a chapel painted by Luca Signorelli that is spectacular and daunting in it's apoctolyptic imagery.

TODI

Our plan on this day was to bypass Orvieto and head to Todi, a city that sits above the Tiber in an area of Umbria we had yet to visit.

The Piazza del Popolo, we are told, has been the setting for several movies. I cannot verify that bit of trivia, but the piazza  is uniquely  beautiful, and yes, the sky truly was that blue.

 Sempre salire, in Italy there are  always steps to climb, here they lead up to the Duomo. The Duomo is simple in comparison to many churches we have seen, but the beauty lies in the geometry of the architecture and details like those of the columns. As is often the case, this gothic church is built over the remains of an ancient Roman temple.

First, the Etruscans built a wall around the place we know as Todi, then came the Romans who with their masonry skills also built a wall and if that was not enough protection from invaders there is the most recent Medieval wall.
It was a rather hot day, so after walking around and up and down we needed something to eat, and besides we were hoping to get in to the 7th Century Church of San Fortunato. There is a fresco by Panicale home boy, Masolino di Panicale that we wanted to see.

We did find an enoteca right beside the church, alongside the steps, where we could have some lunch as we waited for the church doors to open. The lovely, shady spot is called Vineria San Fortunato.  A board of local cheese and salumi was perfect served with a local  chilled white wine. James saw something on the menu he could not resist trying, fried rabbit.
When it was brought to our table James said to the server,"Come (like) Kentucky Fried Chicken!"
She replied, "K.F.C., si!"

Well, the church never did open, there is always next time.



ON TO DERUTA

On our last visit to Deruta we purchased four dinner plates and four pasta bowls, but that is a problem when there are six people for dinner so to remedy that we bought two more of each.
So now.....what if there are eight for dinner? We will consider that another time.

There are several ceramic / maiolica makers in Deruta with our first stop at Sberna where we purchased our dinner ware.
I coveted this soup tureen, and if I bought it I would be making soup all of the time just to have it out on the table, but I left it there on the shop shelf for now.


Across the street there was another shop that we wanted to visit.....

Ubaldo Grazia Maioliche

After looking through the shop and resisting a serving bowl and platter, we began talking to one of the woman that works here. During our conversation we mentioned that we were artists as we commented on the quality of the painting on the majoliche.....we were led upstairs to the workshop.

This is work for someone with a good brush held by a very steady hand.

All of the pieces are first glazed white with the design the 'pounced' on with tiny dots.

James was interested in the application of the color and as he found out the colors change during the firing so the artist must understand the color being painted on is not necessarily the color when it come s from the kiln. We were delighted to be invited into the workshop to see this traditional art of hand painted ceramics being continued.

This shop also produces a line of contemporary designs. I believe that James could create a unique pattern using the fruits and flowers of his still life paintings.

The antique pieces at this shop are exceptionally interesting and they have a good collection with some of the shapes and designs still made in this workshop. This  family workshop has been producing majoliche  in Deruta since 1500. The terra-cotta clay that is used used is from Umbria and the formulas for the glazes have been passed down through generations of potters and painters.

Clouds are rolling in over Umbria for a late afternoon rain, maybe a few thunder storms at the end of a clear, hot and perfectly ideal day here in Italy.

TREMENTINA

One of the materials we use in painting is turpentine, in Italian it is called Trementina, with the stress on tina. Although Elizabeth and I bring some supplies from our studios, we thought that the airlines and T.S.A. would have a dim view of carrying flammable liquids on board an aircraft. So, we only packed a few panels, paper , pencils and brushes, and the rest we would purchase in Italy. We thought we would be able to buy turpentine in any hardware store......not so easy! After asking around and being told we would have to go to Perugia, again, not so easy, Johnny Apodaca, a fellow artist, said that there exists

 an art store in Deruta, and they they probably sold turpentine.

Grazie Johnny ( and Janelle) per l' informazione!

That was good news since Deruta was on our list of towns that we had never visited and it is the leading ceramic center of Umbria, and that there is a very interesting church just south of town. Monday was a sunny day with warm breezes coming up from Northern Africa, we decided to take a day trip to Deruta.

There is Janelle .....up there in the window!

The Business Trip ( per gita affari)

Usually we try to avoid driving on the large highways due to congestion, trucks and crazy high speed drivers. Instead, we studied our map and decided to take back roads. 

It was a beautiful drive  through the Umbrian countryside, and after getting lost a few times we arrived in Deruta and after finding the wrong place after a couple of times, finally ended up at what looked like an abandoned factory....but there it was Mondo Ceramica, and they carried trementina, "Hooray!"

plus a whole bunch of other stuff. Artists turn into children in candy store when let loose in an art 

supply store.

The Shopping Trip ( fare la spesa)

Elizabeth and I are big fans of Italian maiolica and own a small collection of vases and a variety of plates. We decided that  on this trip we were going to start building a dinner service.

We saw Elizabeth Minchilli's book on Deruta ceramics, and then her blog post on Deruta and went directly to Sberna, one of her favorite shops.

Fabulous!

After wanting to buy everything we calmed down and zeroed in on a pattern we both loved.

The woman that assisted us was very helpful. She showed examples of how to 'Mix and Match' these plates with pasta bowls etc. Sounded like a fun idea for table setting.

We are very excited about our purchase.

Little by little we will build a set.

The Pilgrimage (il pellegrini)

Chiesa Madonna Dei Bagni (Our Lady of The Baths)  or in one translation it is , Our Lady of The Small Bathroom, is a few kilometers south of Deruta. The story, in short, is that in the 1600's a farmer , Christofono,was going to town to buy medicine for his gravely ill wife. On the way he found a ceramic voto of the Madonna with Baby Jesus and picked it up and placed it in the crotch of an oak tree. When he returned home to his wife, guess what? she was well again. Your standard Italian miracle.

Behind the glass a plaque to Christofono and his wife, along with the oak tree.

A church was built on the site with the oak tree still in the ground inside the alter. The sick and injured have been making a pilgrimage to this church seeking and finding a cure . As thanks, they had commemorative ceramic votive plaques made in Deruta and put on the walls of the Church .

                                

This has been going on for three hundred years. And what a story they tell.

injured in a fall

shot by highway bandits

 gored by bull

lightning stike

injured in battle

afflicted by demons

injured in a fall from a tree

WORTH A VISIT.