Agriturismo in Umbria

The Regional Ceramics Museum originated in 1898. Its conceiver, Francesco Briganti, wanted it to have explicit teaching and research purposes, both historic-ceramological and informational-promotional, in relation to the local industrial production. Briganti’s aims corresponded to a modern conception of museums which is still timely today, and guided the design and creation of the present-day Regional Ceramics Museum, which opened in 1998. The museum is situated inside the former convent of San Francesco and contains over 6,000 works.

The visit starts with two rooms devoted to temporary shows. Going to the right, we enter the specialistic library, containing over 1,300 volumes, while to the left are the reception and bookshop.

From here we go up to the upper floors, where, ordered by periods, the Deruta potteries from the “archaic” period to the early 1900s are on display. Numerous thematic inserts exalt the technique and/or the function for which the articles were intended: the iridescent “lustro” glaze, the floor tiles, the love cups, the saltcellars, and devotional plaques thus become part of the chronological path of the history of Deruta ceramics.

Also, in the upper rooms, an old pharmacy has been reconstructed, displaying the majolica jars that characterized all the pharmacies throughout Italy from the 15^th through the 19^th century.

Lastly, a modern and extremely interesting “storeroom” open to the public and accessible to specialists, visitors, and craftsmen contains over five thousand tiles and works by contemporary artists who have worked in Deruta’s factories since the start of the 20^th century up to the present time, bearing witness to one of the most complex and important production realities in the national panorama.