A Convenient Souvenir

When I (conveniently) forgot to wear earrings one day in June while in Ortigia, I saw these in a jewelry store window. I walked in and asked to see them. The salesman began his pitch to sell them to me, which I thought was hilarious because I knew exactly what they were… “Hand painted ceramic…

Glaze the Town

Santo Stefano di Camastra on Sicily’s north coast has had a tradition of creating ceramic arts for many centuries. The townspeople started to exploit nearby clay pits to make tiles, earthenware, and bricks, certainly during medieval times, but more likely, centuries before. This image is from a series of painted tiles in one of the…