The origins of Grottaglie (from the Latin «Cryptae Aliae» = many, and various caves) is defined in the rocky settlements that rose up in the area from the Palaeolithic age.
The first groups of humans slowly left the depths of the “gravine” to then occupy the isolated highlands on which they established their fortified villages.

The ceramics district

The ceramics industry was the main source of income-production for the people of Grottaglie for many centuries. According to historical data, in fact, at the end of the 1700s there were some 42 factories and a population of about 5000 people.
The abundance of clay in the area favoured the development of the craft in the beginning. Art and craft roots go deep into a far-off past, particularly given the number of ceramic remains dating back to the classical and the Magna-Graecia age.

For a long time the activity was mainly a cottage industry, aimed at producing bricks and ornaments for everyday use. The diffusion of majolica production in Grottaglie dates back to the 1700s, with the consequent specialisation in two different veins, the «ruagnara art» and the «faenzara art»: the first regarding the manufacture of goods for common use, whilst the second was more decorative and ornamental, aimed at a more elite use.

Today the typology and production techniques in any case tend to integrate and cross over even in the same workshops, where ceramic artists, who are no longer divided into categories, work daily experimenting and researching new forms of expression.
You can take part in real ceramic lessons at a workshop that produces ceramics using traditional methods and medieval ovens.