This art has ancient origins in Liguria, where it developed from the second half of the 12th century in Savona and later in Albisola and Genoa. For those who are passionate about it, our region offers countless possibilities from Levante to Ponente to visit dozens of workshops, two museums and a wonderful walk in the open air.
The heart of ceramic production and attractions is in Albisola. The Promenade of the Artists decorates the seafront of Albisola Marina with 800 metres of polychrome panels (about 5 million tiles) interpreting the original designs of the artists who frequented the town: Caldanzano, Crippa, De Salvo, Fabbri, Franchini, Gambetta, Garelli, Lam, Luzzati, Porcù, Quatrini, Rambaldi, Rossello, Sabatelli, Salino, Sassu, Siri, Strada.
La Passeggiata degli Artisti is part of the Albisola Museo Diffuso, together with the Casa Museo Asger Jorn - two buildings and a plot of land on the hill of Albissola Marina bought in 1957 by the Danish artist Asger Jorn and home until his death to his home and workshop, now a place for art exhibitions and cultural events, the Biblioteca Centro Esposizioni, a multifunctional centre which since 2014 has housed the town's library, conferences and the civic collection of modern and contemporary works of art, and the Fornace Alba Docilia, a ceramics factory active from the 17th century until 1982, now a venue for visits and educational experiences (
www. museodiffusoalbisola.it ).
The Museo Diffuso in Albisola is a unique experience of its kind, a fundamental stage in a ceramics itinerary that can then continue towards Albisola Superiore, where the Museo della Ceramica is located in the home-workshop of the painter and ceramist Manlio Trucco (Genoa 1884 - Albisola Superiore 1974), housing evidence of Albisola's ceramics production from the 16th to the 21st century as well as an exhibition of 33 photos taken in the main places of Savona ceramics by one of Italy's best-known photographers, Gianni Berengo Gardin. And then on to the Museo della Ceramica di Savona (
www.museodellaceramica.savona.it ), one of the world's most important museums of ceramic art with a collection of over a thousand works, testifying to the link that has united the Savona and Albisola area with this artistic production for six centuries.
The timeless charm of these places can only stimulate more careful research into the workshops and laboratories that continue to carry on this wonderful art today.