Deruta - Situated in the province of Umbria, this is Italy's largest pottery center and home to more than 250 artisans. Deruta is renown for its Bella Donna plates, a favorite commission of the Italian nobility, other intricate wares decorated with Lustre and, of course, Ricco Deruta and Raffaellesco designs.

Faenza - A city-state which houses one of the world's most comprehensive ceramic museums. This was the family seat of the powerful Della Rovere Family. One of the signature design motifs of this region is an acorn pattern based on the family's crest. This is also the region that produced the Garofano (Carnation) pattern. First produced in the 17th century in the workshop of Count Fermiani, this design took its inspiration directly from Chinese porcelain seen by the Count on his travels through the Orient.

Montelupo Fiorentino - world renown for producing highly creative and beautifully executed ceramics in traditional and contemporary styles. Individual studios have developed signature colors and patterns.

Murano Glass - In the year 1291 the government of Venice banned glass furnaces from the central islands of Venice, relegating them to Murano. It has been debated that the move of the glassmaking industry to Murano resulted from a fear that the fires of the glass furnaces might create disaster in crowded Venice. It has also been debated that the glassmakers were moved to Murano to isolate them from trading prized secrets of the trade with outsiders. Regardless, Venetian glassmaking is a historical tradition that is still alive today. Our Murano Glass collection is a very modern representation of this long lived tradition.

Siena - Famous for the black and white mosaics with a depiction of a sitting dear, the floor of the Sienese Cathedral is entirely covered with designs and patterns that can be seen throughout Italian pottery.

Orvieto - Is known for three motifs: Arcaico, a motif based on medieval primitive pottery, Etrusco, copies of etruscan artifacts left by the Etruscans from this region and Dame plates decorated with court figures. The Orvieto palette was limited to Magnese (a deep purple brown made from Magnesium) and Verde Ramina made from copper (a green oxide found on the church bells) .

Vietri Sul Mare - Majolica artists work in a less formal manner and are best known for pieces bearing the lemon and citrus growing in their region and creating patterns that are intensely colorful and exciting.

Caltagirone - Caltagirone takes its name from the Arab words "Qalat-Jerun", that means "Castle of Vases ". Until the sixteenth century, the village of Caltagirone developed on the slopes of three hills, the highest of which is the oldest part. In later years, urban expansion, which was necessarily projected down into the valley. This posed the problem of connecting the "new" town with the "old" one. The dream of creating a "new road" was fulfilled on 1606. This new street was constructed by skilled workers and craftsmen and took over 10 years to complete. The "new road" consisted of different flight of stairs with a total of 150 steps. In 1884, all of the different flight of stairs were joined together in a projct by architect Salvatore Marino. The final result being a continous flight of grandiose steps. In 1956 the old steps were embellished with the addition of tiles reproducing Sicilian motifs painted by majolica workers from the 10th to 20th centuries. The steps a chronologically broken into into 10 sections. Each ascending section representing roughly a century of Sicilian majolica designs. These steps are now referred to as the Santa Maria del Monte or San Giacomo steps. Representing over 1000 years of historical designs and almost 400 years old, this is a fascinating study of "large scale" town planning. At Isola, we are proud to feature many ceramics from Caltagirone as well as reproductions of various tiles represented in the steps of Santa Maria del Monte.