Tag: hand-painted

  • Dressed to Impress 

    An intricately decorated, more colorful Sicilian cart was a way of showing off the owner’s wealth and success. So, just like if you are driving an elegant, luxury, name-brand car today, a Sicilian cart driver would pay a high price to the cart maker to make his cart more elaborate in order to illustrate his…

  • Beautiful Box

    Ceramic box by Bagheria’s Mirella Pipia.

  • With This, I’m Easy to Please

    My cousins Giulia and Silvana in Palermo gave me this ceramic necklace. They said that they knew I’d love it. They were right!

  • Bagheria’s Sicilian Carts

    While in Bagheria on Wednesday, we had an extraordinary meeting at the workshop of Michele Ducato, one of the last painters of Bagherese Sicilian carts. Pictured is a detail from a cart on which he’s currently working. In addition to learning about the “family business” and the construction of the carts from Michele, Giovanni Di…

  • Wheel of Fortune

    Sicilian Cart. (Photo Credit: Experience Sicily’s Filippo Buttitta)

  • Feast for the Eyes

    Ceramic plate, Caltagirone.

  • Hand-painted Wishes

    “Auguri per il Matrimonio” (“Best Wishes for Marriage”), detail from my father’s toy, hand-painted Sicilian cart. Painted in Bagheria by Onofrio Ducato.

  • Ceramic Tiles from Bagheria’s Storied Villas

    Tiles from the terrace of Villa Ramacca, Bagheria. 

  • Villa Ramacca, Bagheria, Ceiling Detail

    This hand-painted ceiling detail is from one of the salons at Villa Ramacca in Bagheria. Villa Ramacca is one of many palace-manors that the Palermo aristocracy built in Bagheria in the 17th and 18th centuries. Originally the home of Bernardo Gravina, Prince of Ramacca, today the villa is a beautiful reception hall that hosts weddings…