The ceramics tradition in the Terre di Pisa

The civilisation of ceramics in the Pisa province is linked to two millennia of craftsmanship tradition that, with more or less fortunate seasons, took root in some centres that then developed their own culture, their own style, their own expressive identity.

Etruscan culture left its stylistic mark on bucchero pottery, which over time developed into amphorae of different sizes and designed for uses that would last for many centuries as a sort of identifying imprinting of various areas of Tuscany. The influence of Roman ceramics will be decisive in particular with the artefact known as Sigillata Aretina, which expressed red-glazed table bowls, finely decorated in relief, very common in the Roman Empire.

During the long centuries of decline of the Roman Empire, Pisa, as a Maritime Republic, saw its ceramic tradition flourish again. From trade with the East, the technique of archaic majolica was imported, which had a rapid success and allowed a flourishing activity.
The Florentine conquest of Pisa provided new stimuli and models from the established ceramic schools of Montelupo. In fact, in the first decades of the 15th century, the Pisa area produced an original line of engobed graffito ceramics, a product that perfectly synthesised Tuscan culture with oriental taste.

From the 15th century to the present day, ceramic craftsmanship in the territory has continued to represent a flourishing economy in Pisa and in smaller centres such as Calcinaia with the Montecchio pottery, in Montopoli in Val d’Arno, with the terracotta of the Milani factory and in Vicopisano.

Models and specimens of ceramics can be found in the Coccapani Ceramics Museum in Calcinaia and the Civic Museum in Montopoli in Valdarno, and in the National Museum of San Matteo in Pisa.