by David Henderson

If you've ever shopped a Crate and Barrel or any gourmet food shop, no doubt you've seen fine examples of the hand-painted ceramic cookware of Tuscany. I'm a nut for the stuff, and during a recent visit to Tuscany, I discovered that each village has its own artisans with their own distinctive styles.

If you take an organized tour of Tuscany, chances are you will be steered toward all the tourist ceramic shops of Siena and San Gimignano. But there are many other places to explore. While it seems that just about all the artists are trained in Florence, most return to their hometowns and adapt the traditional local designs and colors. So what you find in one town, you'll not find in another. Here are a couple of places, off the beaten path, that I personally visited and can recommend --

In the small and yet-to-be-discovered medieval town of Certaldo, just 8 miles north of San Gimagnano, is the small and relatively new Artesia studio(this is a communal website so click on "ceramica" on the left).

Their original designs and colors are bright, cheerful and inviting. One of the artists, Monica, took time from painting a magnificent platter to show me around the shop. They have many examples of their work. You choose the pieces you want, the styles and designs, and they custom make everything especially for you. It takes about six weeks to get your wares, shipped to your door by DHL. The email of Artesia is cinzia.orsi@tin.it .

A little farther south in central Tuscany is the wonderful walled medieval town of Montepulciano, home of the fabulous ruby wines called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and the noted ceramic artist Giovanni Quadri. His shop -- Creazioni d'Arte -- is an adventure in itself to visit.

After walking to the back of the shop, you go down an ancient winding staircase to a tunnel that leads underneath the street to the 14th-century church of Sant' Agnese. Deep in the cavern that's filled with Giovanni's ceramic art, he will stop to show you a place in the earthen floor where they cast the bell for the church, centuries ago.

Giivanni has such a large inventory of ceramic pieces in his shop that he will ship the exact piece you select. It's highly advised to pay the extra amout for shipping and insurance rather than lug ceramic pieces around on your tour of Tuscany and risk breaking something. Giovanni's email at Creazioni d'Arte is casalucente@libero.it .

If you are excited about the bright ceramic ware of Tuscany, there's nothing like visiting all the many artists until an original style captures your eye. You can also save the airfare and shop for Tuscan ceramics online. But it's not as much fun because you'll miss the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and fresh pastas.

Writer and BoomerCafé founder David Henderson
lives in Alexandria, VA,
and is already planning his next adventure in Tuscany.
His email is dehenderson@speakeasy.net.

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