pottery near florence
 

Someone once had a post about a great little town outside of florence that had wonderful pottery. I have a little extra time and was going to head south to umbris but thought I might explore this instead if I could only figure out where it was. I have searched all the posts and cannot locate it. Does anyone else recall this?

There are MANY outside of Florence but the only one I'nm familiar with is Impruneta. I've bought their terra cotta garden pots that can stand this Massachsetts cold winters.
One name that comes to mind for decorative stuff is Doccia.

Well, the classic ceramic town is Deruta, but it is in Umbria just south of Perugia and is 2 hours from Florence. My wife likes the choices in san Gimignano, but that is pure retail.

People told me that Siena had wonderful pottery, but I was less than impressed. There were some beautiful pieces, but they were very expensive. I much preferred the selection in Orvieto. Pienza also had some beautiful pottery.

Having read the listings in the Italian Yellow Pages of 200 establishments making "ceramiche artistiche" in the province of Florence, I can say that Montelupo Fiorentino leads the pack with the number of such establishments. There is also a "Coop Ceramiche Toscane" and a "Consorzio Ceramica Montelupo" in Montelupo Fiorentino.

Other towns that came up frequently were Impruneta (already mentioned), Lastra a Signa, Montespertoli and Sesto Fiorentino.

I second the vote for Orvieto. Lovely town, easy train trip from Rome or Florence, and the best selection of pottery I've found. Both good shops with a wide selection of pottery collected from all over Italy and (and this is the rare, hard to find part!) local potters who still make hand-thrown pots as well as decorate them. Unfortunately most ceramic studios painters, even the good ones, use mass-produced pots instead of hand-thrown ones. In Orvieto, you get lots of choice in small, enjoyable, very walkable area. Check out Mastra Anna, my favorite. She has a little shop just off the piazza in front of the duomo (on the left side of the piazza as you exit the duomo).

Rampini near Radda makes some beautiful pottery. That's not too far from Florence.

There is a wonderful shop in Cortona just off the main piazza if you walk toward the park. I don't recall the name but it's on the right hand side and they have very simple colors compared to most Tuscan pottery which is very colorful. Here the colors were greens and blues and tans.