Orvieto and ceramics
For "motorway" convenience, nbspwe start the tour from Orvieto. Walking around the old town, from Via Cavour to Via del Duomo, where you can find most of the shops and ceramics shops: in the città della Rupe the colours and decorations of Orvieto ceramics have deep roots with references to Lombardy and Frankish metalware.
A visit to the nearby Medieval and Renaissance Maiolica Museum will help you decide which style and period to choose for your souvenirs. The large kiln inside, the only fifteenth century kiln left in Italy, gave shape to a rich and varied series of ceramic objects that can still be seen here.
Before leaving Orvieto, also famous for its processing of gold and wood (there are also some important premises decorated by the workshops), take the opportunity to stop for something to eat; the average quality of the food here is excellent. You can not miss the homemade pasta, the palomba alla leccarda (squab), typical of this area, as well as game and truffles.
A cup of coffee and then continue along the SS448, where the view of Lake Corbara alone is worth the trip: take the E45 to Deruta, an open-air factory.
Deruta, a factory in the open
Everywhere there are shops, factories and Deruta pottery schools. The best place to try a "workshop" experience and become an "apprentice potter" for just a day: working with the potter's wheel or with clay and seeing your ideas take shape is really rewarding. If you are hunting for tradition: jars, terracotta pots in which oil was stored or "scine", basins where laundry was washed with ashes. But also a number of conventional and unconventional objects, all strictly hand decorated.
Many artists from Deruta are exhibited at the Louvre and other great museums around the world: for a trip between the modern and the ancient, do not leave without a visit to the Fondazione Moretti and the adjacent Regional Ceramics Museum, a treasure trove like the floor of the Church of San Francesco and the votive tiles near the Sanctuary of Madonna dei Bagni. If you still have time, the best way to finish off the tour is in Ripabianca, the terracotta town, located a short distance from Deruta.
