Our latest day trip was to the hillside ceramic town of Caltagirone. Caltagirone is known around the world for it’s long history of beautifully hand decorated pottery. We set out on this beautiful Saturday in search of a set of espresso cups and were overwhelmed by all of the beautiful options. The drive to Caltagirone was absolutely stunning. The sun was hitting everything just beautifully and there were so many amazing sights to stop and photograph along the way.
We found a great parking spot on a side road near the city center and decided that our first stop needed to be a cafe! After a sip of espresso and bite of sfogliatelle, we were off to check out the town.
Our next stop was the famous staircase of Santa Maria del Monte. This 142 step staircase was built in 1608 and features hand painted ceramics on the front of each and every step. Of course we had to walk, jump and skip our way up the stairs counting each one.
Once a year, the city illuminates the staircase with candles. They also decorate them with beautiful blooms of flowers in the Spring. I can’t wait to come back and see that!
The best part of the trek up those stairs was turning around and snapping some photos of the city. The cathedrals and domes popping up over the roof tops provided a beautiful skyline for photographs on this clear day.
I loved this sleepy little cat just sunbathing on a ledge. And of course my wonderful husband photographing the city of Caltagirone from a ledge.
After we finished shooting for the day, we decided it was time to buy our espresso set and some souvenirs. We checked out quite a few different ceramic shops, but ended up falling in love with a set at this shop right in the center of town. The shop was packed full of beautiful hand decorated ceramics made by the shops owner, a sweet old man by the name of Francesco Manuello. You can find this shop at 20 Via Vittorio Emanuele, Caltagirone. He was so kind and took the time to explain the hard work and attention to detail that goes into making each piece perfect! And he didn’t mind one bit when Tony and I picked the set that was on the very bottom of a rather wobbly stack of cups. I felt like a bull in a china shop in there, my heart rate was running high. We couldn’t help but laugh when Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” came on the radio (seriously!) and we pictured her slamming into the shop knocking everything around.
The amazing hilly scenery really reminded Tony and I both of our home states. This flat farm land in our area is killing us, but knowing there are gorgeous rolling hills just a short drive away really cheered us up!
We had a wonderful trip to Caltagirone and are so excited to head back to purchase more of their beautiful pottery. This is the perfect quick day trip from where we live and I know we’ll be back several times.
//Lyndsay.
