The majolica village, with the ceiling of San Donato
At the foot of Monte Camicia, on the northern side of the Gran Sasso, in a landscape of great beauty, Castelli is a small village that has been famous for centuries throughout Europe for its majolica, the painted and glazed ceramics produced here since the Middle Ages and which reached its peak between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, thanks to families of master potters such as the Grue and the Gentili. The Castelli majolica, decorated with landscapes, mythological, religious and hunting scenes in delicate colours, was sought after by the courts and noble families of Italy and Europe, and is now kept in the most important museums in the world. Still today, numerous workshops in the village produce majolica according to tradition, and there is also a famous art institute for ceramics.
The most extraordinary testimony of this art is the church of San Donato, just outside the village: its ceiling is entirely covered with about 800 majolica tiles, made between 1615 and 1617 by the potters of Castelli, each different from the others, with portraits, saints, animals, coats of arms and geometric designs, a unique work that the writer Carlo Levi called "the Sistine Chapel of Italian majolica". In the village, the Museo delle Ceramiche, in a former convent, displays the history of Castelli majolica with hundreds of works from the sixteenth century to the present day. At Christmas, a large majolica nativity scene is set up. The road that leads to Castelli offers splendid views of the Gran Sasso.
Tip: visit San Donato and the ceramics museum; buy a piece of majolica directly in a village workshop.
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