The Complete Guide to Italian Handcrafted Ceramics

If you have ever held a piece of Italian pottery and felt you were touching something ancient — something alive with color and story — you were probably holding Majolica. It is one of the oldest and most celebrated ceramic traditions in human history, born in the sun-baked workshops of medieval Italy and still produced today by artisan families who have passed their techniques from generation to generation for five centuries.

At Biordi Art Imports, we have been bringing authentic Italian Majolica to San Francisco since 1946. In that time, we have handled thousands of pieces, visited dozens of workshops, and formed deep relationships with the artisan families who make this art. This guide contains everything we know about what Majolica is, where it comes from, and how to recognize the real thing.

The Origins: A 600-Year Story

The word "Majolica" (also spelled "Maiolica") comes from the island of Majorca, off the coast of Spain — a key trading port through which richly decorated Islamic pottery first reached the Italian peninsula in the 13th and 14th centuries. Italian potters in towns like Faenza, Deruta, and Gubbio were captivated by the vibrant, tin-glazed surfaces of this imported ware. They studied it, experimented with it, and ultimately transformed it into something entirely their own.

By the 15th century, the Italian Renaissance was in full flourish, and Majolica became its ceramic expression. Wealthy patrons — the Medici, the Este, the Gonzaga — commissioned elaborate sets painted with mythological scenes, portraits, and heraldic symbols. The town of Faenza became so famous for its pottery that an entire category of European ceramics took its name: "faience."

Today, that same tradition continues in the same villages, using techniques that would be recognizable to a 15th-century craftsman.

How Majolica Is Made

Understanding the making process is key to appreciating why authentic Majolica looks, feels, and wears the way it does — and why it costs more than mass-produced alternatives.

Step 1: Shaping the Clay

Artisans begin with earthenware clay — the same porous, terracotta-based material used for centuries in central Italy. Each piece is shaped by hand or on a wheel, then left to dry slowly before its first firing in a kiln. This initial "bisque" firing hardens the clay but leaves it porous, ready to absorb the glaze.

Step 2: The White Tin Glaze

What makes Majolica distinctly Majolica is the opaque white base glaze made with tin oxide. The bisque-fired piece is dipped or brushed with this glaze, which creates a brilliant white, chalk-like surface — the painter's canvas. This is the defining characteristic that separates Majolica from other ceramics. The white glaze creates the luminous quality that makes the painted colors appear to glow from within.

Step 3: Hand Painting

This is where the artisan's skill and personality become visible. Painters work directly on the unfired, dry white glaze — a surface that absorbs the brush strokes immediately, with no room for correction. Every line, every flower petal, every brushstroke is permanent from the moment it touches the glaze. There is no erasing, no painting over. This demands a mastery that typically takes years to develop.

The pigments used are metal oxides: cobalt for blues, copper for greens, manganese for purples and browns, antimony for yellows. These are the same pigment families used by Renaissance painters.

Step 4: The Final Firing

The painted piece is fired again at high temperature — typically around 980°C (1,800°F). In the kiln, the tin glaze melts and fuses with the painted pigments and the clay body simultaneously, creating a single, integrated piece. The colors transform in the heat, brightening and deepening in ways the painter must anticipate from experience. When the kiln cools, the Majolica piece emerges: the glaze vitrified, the colors locked in for centuries.

The Great Majolica Centers of Italy

Different regions of Italy developed distinct Majolica traditions. Each has its own characteristic palette, motifs, and sensibility. At Biordi, we work with artisans from all of these historic centers.

Deruta, Umbria

Deruta is arguably the most famous Majolica town in the world. Located in Umbria, south of Perugia, it has been producing ceramics since the 13th century. Deruta ware is known for its rich, saturated colors — deep cobalt blues, warm yellows, and terracotta reds — and for bold, large-scale patterns. The Raffaellesco pattern (a flowing arabesque with a dragon and grotesque figures) and the Ricco Deruta pattern (alternating floral and geometric bands) are both Deruta originals and are still produced there today.

Faenza, Emilia-Romagna

The city that gave its name to "faience" continues to produce fine, painterly ceramics. Faenza Majolica tends toward more refined, delicate decoration — fine-lined motifs, classical figures, and a more restrained palette compared to the bold Umbrian style. The Faenza tradition values technical precision and artistic sophistication.

Castelli, Abruzzo

Castelli, a small mountain village in Abruzzo, produced some of the most artistically sophisticated Majolica of the 17th and 18th centuries. Castelli ware is known for its pictorial quality — whole scenes, landscapes, and figures painted with a painterly hand. The tradition nearly disappeared in the 20th century but has been revived by a dedicated community of artisans.

Sicily

Sicilian ceramics carry the influence of Arab, Norman, and Spanish occupations over centuries. The result is a distinctive, exuberant style — bright primary colors, bold graphic patterns, and a joyful maximalism that reflects the island's complex cultural history. Towns like Caltagirone and Santo Stefano di Camastra are the centers of this tradition.

How to Recognize Authentic Italian Majolica

The market for "Italian ceramics" is flooded with mass-produced imitations — pieces made in factories, decorated with decals or stencils, sometimes not even made in Italy. Here is how to tell the difference.

Signs of Authentic Handmade Majolica

•      Perfectly imperfect. No two pieces are identical. Brush strokes vary slightly, proportions shift subtly from piece to piece. This variation is not a flaw — it is proof of a human hand.

•      Signed by the artist. Authentic workshop pieces are signed on the bottom — often with the artist's initials, the workshop name, and the town of origin. Some artisans have been signing pieces the same way for 40 or 50 years.

•      Visible brush strokes. Look closely at the surface. On authentic pieces, you can see the texture and direction of individual brush strokes. Decal decoration is perfectly flat, smooth, and uniform.

•      Weight and substance. Genuine earthenware Majolica has a satisfying heft. The clay body is dense. Mass-produced ceramics often feel lighter and thinner.

•      Color depth. The pigments in authentic Majolica have a richness and variation that comes from the firing process. Colors appear to have depth — as if the color is inside the glaze, not on top of it. Decal colors look printed: flat, even, and slightly mechanical.

•      Price reflects reality. Authentic handmade Majolica takes one skilled artisan a week or more to produce. It cannot be priced like a factory item. If the price seems too good to be true, it is.

Caring for Your Majolica

Majolica is more durable than its delicate appearance suggests. With proper care, pieces last for generations — many of our customers have inherited Biordi pieces from their parents and grandparents.

Dishwasher

Authentic Majolica is dishwasher safe, though many collectors prefer to hand wash to preserve the brilliance of the glaze over time. If machine washing, use a gentle cycle and avoid harsh detergents.

Oven and Microwave

Traditional Majolica is generally not recommended for oven use, as the rapid temperature changes can stress the earthenware clay. Our modern stoneware collections — like the Il Mio Tavolo line — are specifically formulated to be oven, microwave, and dishwasher safe. Check the product details for each piece.

Crazing

Over time, the glaze on Majolica may develop fine hairline cracks called "crazing." This is a natural characteristic of tin-glazed earthenware — not a defect. Crazing occurs when the clay body and glaze expand and contract at slightly different rates with temperature changes. Pieces with crazing are completely safe to use for food as long as the cracks are in the glaze only and do not penetrate the clay.

Majolica for Restaurants: Why Chefs Choose It

Biordi has supplied Italian Majolica to some of the finest restaurants in the United States for decades. The reasons are both practical and philosophical.

Practically: authentic Majolica presents beautifully on the table. The colors are vivid, the forms are distinctive, and every piece has character. No two tables look exactly alike, which creates the kind of individual attention to detail that discerning diners notice and remember.

Philosophically: chefs who choose handmade Italian ceramics are making a statement about their values — that craft matters, that tradition deserves respect, that the experience of dining extends to everything on the table. The same ethos that leads a chef to source from artisan producers leads them to Majolica.

Artisan partners whose work Biordi carries — including Ceramiche Bucci — supply Michelin-starred restaurants worldwide. We can work directly with restaurant and hospitality buyers to identify the right pieces, quantities, and patterns for a specific dining concept.

Common Questions

Is all Italian pottery Majolica?

No. Majolica refers specifically to tin-glazed earthenware with the characteristic opaque white base. Italy also produces terra cotta (unglazed), stoneware, and porcelain. All Deruta ware is Majolica; not all Italian ceramics are.

What is the difference between Majolica and Faience?

Technically, they are the same thing — tin-glazed earthenware. "Faience" is the French and Northern European term, derived from the Italian city of Faenza. "Majolica" is the Italian term. When shopping, treat them as interchangeable.

How long does a piece of Majolica take to make?

For a complex painted piece — a large platter or a detailed vase — an artisan may spend five to seven days on a single item between shaping, drying, bisque firing, glazing, painting, and final firing. The kiln loading and firing cycle alone takes 24 to 48 hours. This is why authentic Majolica is priced as it is.

Can I use Majolica every day?

Yes. Majolica is functional ware — it was designed to be used at the table, not displayed behind glass. Our customers regularly use their Biordi pieces as everyday dinnerware and report that pieces held up beautifully for decades of daily use. Using these pieces is, in a real sense, participating in a living tradition.

What is the difference between Majolica and Deruta pottery?

Deruta pottery is a type of Majolica — specifically, it refers to Majolica made in or around the town of Deruta, Umbria. Deruta is the most famous Majolica-producing region, so the terms are often used interchangeably in conversation, but not all Majolica comes from Deruta.

Biordi Art Imports

412 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, North Beach

San Francisco's Italian Ceramics Authority Since 1946

biordi.com  |  (415) 392-8096