The International Museum of Ceramics
On the Via Emilia between Bologna and Rimini, Faenza has been one of the most important centres of ceramics in Europe since the Middle Ages, so much so that its name has given the word "faïence" to French, English and many other languages, to indicate the glazed majolica. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, its workshops produced refined plates, vases and pharmacy jars decorated with bright colours, exported all over Europe, and in the mid sixteenth century they invented the "bianchi di Faenza", majolica with a thick white glaze and light, sketchy decorations, which were a great success.
The Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche (MIC), founded in 1908 by Gaetano Ballardini, is one of the largest ceramics museums in the world, with tens of thousands of pieces covering the history of ceramics from all over the world, from ancient pottery of the Near East to Greek and Etruscan vases, from Islamic ceramics to Chinese and Japanese porcelain, from Italian Renaissance majolica to the works of great twentieth century artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Chagall and Fontana. Every two years the museum hosts the Faenza Prize, an international competition of contemporary ceramics. The city still has dozens of workshops of ceramists, where you can watch the artisans at work and buy their creations. The historic centre has two beautiful adjoining squares, Piazza del Popolo and Piazza della Libertà, with the cathedral, the fountain and porticoes, where in June the Palio del Niballo, a medieval tournament, is held.
Tip: the tourist office provides a map of the ceramic workshops open to visitors; in September, the Argillà festival fills the streets with ceramists from all over the world.
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