Museo dell'Arte Ceramica

The Museo dell'Arte Ceramica in Ascoli Piceno traces the city's maiolica production from fifteenth-century basins to the factories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Its five sections bring together civic collections, family deposits and works from the Castelli workshops.

Why it matters

Ascoli developed a substantial ceramics industry, and the museum documents the craft as part of the city's material history. Its holdings combine municipal collections with long-term deposits from the Fondazione della Cassa di Risparmio di Ascoli Piceno and the Matricardi family. A bequest by Ascoli physician Antonio Ceci also brings works from Deruta, Faenza, Montelupo, Savona and Genoa into the collection. Painted tiles by Castelli masters connect Ascoli to workshops in Abruzzo.

What to notice

Fifteenth-century archaic maiolica basins, plain or lead-glazed, show early local production. Later sections present work by the Paci manufacture, active from 1808 to 1856, and the Matricardi factory, active from 1920 to 1929, as well as F.A.M.A. pieces. The collection includes vases, plates, urns, coffee services and cups. The Antonio Ceci bequest, made in 1920, includes ceramics from several Italian production centres. The tile section contains works by Francesco and Carlo Antonio Grue and Berardino Gentili from the convent of Sant'Angelo Magno in Ascoli.

Context and history

The museum opened on 1 June 2007 beside the Romanesque church of San Tommaso, in a complex that includes exhibition rooms and a cloister. Its collections bring together municipal holdings, deposits from the savings-bank foundation and pieces from the Matricardi family. A laboratory equipped with a potter's wheel and kilns continues the connection between the collection and ceramic practice. The museum's account of ascolana maiolica places local production within the wider history of ceramics in the Marche.