Italian ceramics carry regional signatures you can read at arm's length, Caltagirone against Vietri. Sorrento è works the Caltagirone tradition by hand since 1970. Ceramica Pinto hand-decorates majolica tiles and Vietri-style ceramics for floors and walls. Ceramiche Cosmolena paints tableware from a family workshop founded over sixty years ago. The foot of a piece tells you who threw it, which is reason enough to turn it over.
Ceramics house founded in Bolzano in 1950 by Countess Lene Thun, who modeled the first Angel of Bozen figurine now emblematic of South Tyrol; still headquartered in Bolzano as THUN S.p.A.
Best for Ceramic angels and warm-hearted gifts.
THUN began in 1950 in a small modelling workshop at Castel Sant'Antonio in Bolzano, when Countess Lene Thun, working alongside her husband Count Otmar Thun, created the first Angel of Bozen - a ceramic figure she modeled after her sleeping sons. The angel was embraced locally and became closely associated with the city of Bolzano and the South Tyrol region. In 1978 the Thuns' son Peter, then 23, took over management and expanded the company internationally. THUN's product range grew from figurines into tableware, home decor, jewelry, nursery items, nativity-scene pieces and gift items. The company today operates as THUN S.p.A. Societa Benefit, headquartered in Bolzano.
Giuseppe Sorgi's workshop in San Gregorio di Catania has hand-painted artistic ceramics and shaped terracotta for over fifty years, extending to Etna lava-stone work, tiled countertops and garden pieces. Alongside decorative wares it takes on custom commissions and restoration in traditional Sicilian technique.
Founded in 2012, Campucc10 is a Florence cultural association and gallery bringing sculpture, ceramics, graphics, illustration, goldsmithing and design together in the Oltrarno.
Best for Sculpture, ceramics, illustration and goldsmithing by working artists
Vissi d'arte is a ceramics shop in the centre of Lucca offering finely hand-painted plates, tiles, jugs and decorations made in Lucca. It sells online with shipping and runs ceramic-painting courses at its studio.
Milan design studio founded 2010 by Domenico Orefice; its 'Man de Milan' line ('Hands of Milan') pairs objects and furniture with Lombard artisans - ceramics, marble, textile and furnace workshops.
Best for Collectible design
Domenico Orefice Design Studio is a Milan-based design and art-direction practice founded in 2010 by designer Domenico Orefice, based on Via Lorenteggio in Milan. The studio works across interior design, product design and branding, describing its approach as working across the traditional boundaries between design, craftsmanship and art. In 2018 the studio launched "Man de Milan" - Milanese dialect for "hands of Milan" - a collection of furniture, objects and textiles produced in collaboration with artisans from Milan and Lombardy. Pieces in the collection include "Mulino," a rotating bookshelf referencing Leonardo da Vinci's mechanical drawings, and objects made at the historic Fornace Curti furnace, including diamond-shaped "Curti tiles" and a piggy-bank-to-flowerpot piece called "Salvadane." The studio has also worked with regional makers including ceramics producer Ceramiche Keope, marble workshop Alfaterna Marmi, and textile mill Lanificio Leo, extending the same collaborative-craft approach across ceramics, marble, wood and textile pieces.
Arte in Movimento De Maria, on Via San Gregorio Armeno in Naples, makes nativity and Easter figures (pastori natalizi e pasquali) and custom presepi using cork, terracotta, ceramics, and fabric clothing for the figures. Pieces can include miniature food, moving mechanisms, and theatrical lighting and water effects.
This Naples workshop hand-throws and hand-finishes Capodimonte porcelain in the Bourbon-era tradition, producing figurines, centerpieces, wedding favors and decorative pieces. Creations are made to order and sold through the studio's e-shop.
Best for Porcelain, Capodimonte ceramics, bomboniere
Petrucciani San Gregorio Armeno makes terracotta nativity figures and accessories, along with Pulcinella masks and Capodimonte ceramics, from Via San Gregorio Armeno 52 in Naples. The shop is run by Salvatore Petrucciani.
Best for Terracotta nativity figures and pulcinella masks
Ceramiche Giacomini is a three-generation family pottery on Piazza Duomo in Orvieto, hand-painting artistic majolica plates, vases and accessories in traditional Umbrian designs. Pieces are sold in the shop and through its online store with insured worldwide shipping.
Best for Ceramics, majolica, artistic pottery, plates, vases
The Fravolini family has worked in Orvieto ceramics for over twenty years, hand-decorating traditional Umbrian pottery. They run two shops in the historic center, on Via del Duomo between the cathedral square and the Duomo.
ShopArt is an Orvieto craft shop offering ceramics, frescoes, canvases and painted panels made by increasingly rare local master artisans. It sells these handmade Umbrian pieces to visitors in the historic center, with purchases arranged directly through the shop.
Best for Ceramics, frescoes, art reproductions, handicrafts, paintings
Carella Ceramiche is a family workshop in Ostuni's white city hand-throwing and painting Apulian ceramics, from pumi and pine cones to plates, jars and pierced lamps. It ships worldwide through a direct online store for direct online orders and also welcomes buyers to its laboratory and shop.
Best for Ceramics, handmade pottery, Puglia crafts, pumi, wedding favours
Ceramiche D'Alo has sold handmade Apulian ceramics in Ostuni since 1870, offering pumi, lamps, pots, plates, whistles and nativity pieces from selected regional artisans. Its shop on Corso Cavour is open daily and remote purchases are arranged directly with the family while its e-commerce is being built.
Best for Ceramics, terracotta, Puglia crafts, pumi, tableware
Fratelli Barletta is a family olive farm near Ostuni pressing extra virgin olive oil the same day the olives are picked, from 22 hectares and eight cultivars. Its website is a working shop with cart selling bottles, tins, bag-in-box and ceramic cruets with shipping across Europe.
Best for Cart selling bottles, tins, bag-in-box and ceramic cruets with shipping across Europe
Galleria Valencienne is a concept store and gallery set in a historic Ostuni palazzo, blending French elegance with Puglia's colours across fashion, jewellery, art and handmade tableware. It sells worldwide through its online shop for direct orders and welcomes visitors to its vaulted rooms on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.
Best for Fashion, concept store, jewellery, art, ceramics, tableware
The workshop sells hand-painted tiles alongside tableware and decorative ceramics, letting shoppers build murals or borders from individual pieces. Its current contact page places the business in Catania, not Palermo.
Handmade coffa bags woven from dwarf-palm fiber in a family workshop in Palermo, Sicily, decorated with painted ceramics, pompoms and fringe in the traditional style of Sicilian farm and market totes; each bag takes about two days to make.
Best for Bags, Sicilian craft
Sicily Bag makes coffa - traditional Sicilian hand-woven totes - in a family workshop based in Palermo. Coffa bags originated as utilitarian carriers used by Sicilian farmers and cart-drivers, woven from dwarf-palm or reed fiber into a sturdy dome-shaped basket. Sicily Bag's pieces are woven by hand using select cuts of Sicilian dwarf palm and finished with painted ceramic medallions, pompoms, ribbons and fringe. Each bag reportedly takes about two days of hand work, consistent with a family-run atelier.
This Via Roma storefront sells ceramic sea-turtle bracelets, hand-painted fish figurines and natural sea sponges pulled from the island's own sponge-diving tradition, alongside Lampedusa-branded t-shirts and nautical accessories. It runs a street counter and an online shop side by side, both stocked from the same local-craft inventory.
Best for Ceramic turtle bracelets, natural sea sponges and marine souvenirs
Arcaico Ceramic Siena has hand-painted lead-free ceramics from a shop on Via di Città, just steps from the Piazza del Campo and Siena's Duomo, since 1992. Run by Massimo and Gianni Bracciali, the studio takes custom commissions and ships finished pieces worldwide.
Best for Ceramics & Pottery, Handmade Majolica, Custom Ceramics
Roscoart has sold hand-painted Sienese and Deruta majolica from its shop in Siena's historic center for over thirty years, working with family ceramists to produce traditional and contemporary designs. The shop takes custom orders and ships worldwide alongside its in-person storefront.
Best for Ceramics & Pottery, Majolica, Hand-Painted Ceramics
Aute Taormina sells Sicilian ceramics and jewelry from its shop in Taormina's Piazza San Domenico, open daily from 10am to 7pm, featuring hand-painted Moor's Head sculptures, sea urchin ceramics, and pieces by artists like Stefania Boemi. The shop also ships its ceramics internationally through its online store, with insured shipping on every order.
Ceramist Francesca Tomasini makes and sells handmade ceramics and terracotta from her studio-shop on Via Galliera. Pieces range from tableware to decorative objects, formed and painted on site.
Salvatrice Gambino's Bottega della Ceramica di Caltagirone hand-creates and decorates artistic ceramics from Via Roma 51 in Caltagirone. Pieces include vases, lamps, teste di moro (Moorish head vessels), and painted eggs.
Botteganove makes ceramic tiles and surfaces from refined clays and glazes on Via Molini in Nove, Vicenza, where Christian Pegoraro took over the family business in 2013. The workshop collaborates with designers including Chiara Andreatti, Cristina Celestino and the Studiopepe duo.
Via Madonna degli Angeli 7, Vietri sul Mare (Salerno province)
Solimene hand-makes and hand-decorates Vietri tableware, tiles, decorative objects and furnishings in the traditional Mediterranean style. Its building in Vietri sul Mare carries a façade designed by architect Paolo Soleri.
Ceramica Artistica Sorrentina has hand-painted ceramics in its Piano di Sorrento workshop since founder Antonino Puglia opened it in 1982, producing plates, dinnerware sets, and decorative pieces in traditional Sorrento styles. The workshop sells directly from its studio and ships its handmade ceramics through a full online store.
Antonella Ciapetti's shop and laboratory on Piazza Giacomo Matteotti in Greve in Chianti sells hand-made Tuscan ceramics in two registers. One follows the Montelupo school and the roosters and olive trees of Chianti. The other pairs traditional forms with bright glazes in the red of the earth and the blue of the sky. Work by Bruno Gambone and Marcello Fantoni sits alongside the house collections.
Best for Modern Tuscan ceramics in ancient palettes.
Ceramica Geometrie works from Piazza Giacomo Matteotti in Greve in Chianti, where the shop and laboratory of Antonella Ciapetti sell Tuscan ceramics made entirely by hand. The traditional collection follows the historic school of Montelupo and the iconography of Chianti. Its patterns include the Black Rooster and the Color Rooster, the Landscape and the Geometric, olive trees in white and yellow, the Lemon and the Grapes, along with a Historic Character line. Drawings and colours keep to the groove of history rather than reinventing it. A contemporary collection sets traditional forms against bright glazes and original sculpture, built around the red of the earth and the blue of the sky. Alongside Ciapetti's own work the shop shows pieces by Bruno Gambone, Paolo Staccioli, Paola Staccioli and Marcello Fantoni. Every plate and pot is described as unique, which is the point of a workshop that refuses moulds. Lonely Planet, Routard and Michelin have all written about the shop. The company trades as Ceramica Geometrie Srl and also uses the Materiacrea name for its mail and payments. Orders placed through the online shop are packed and sent from the Greve premises.
Ceramica Margherita has made handmade ceramics since 1996 on Corso Umberto I in Vietri sul Mare, working in a distinctive Sabbiato technique with its own glaze. Founder Margherita D'Amato and co-founder Giovanni Stabile produce mythological figures, animals, masks, religious subjects and lighting fixtures.
Ceramica Massimino Tiziano hand-makes Vietrese ceramic tableware, kitchen décor, garden furnishings, tiles and decorative objects from Corso Umberto 1 in Vietri sul Mare. The workshop continues the town's traditional ceramic craft.
Ceramica Pinto hand-decorates majolica tiles and Vietri-style ceramics from its workshop on Corso Umberto in Vietri Sul Mare, producing everything from floor tiles to hanging plates and table settings in the town's traditional patterns. The company ships internationally within days and sells its full catalog through its online shop.
Best for Hand-decorated majolica tiles and Vietri-style ceramics — floor tiles, hanging plates
Ceramica Vietrese produces hand-decorated Vietri pottery, tiles and decorative objects in the traditional local manner. The workshop carries the Eccellenza Artigianale Made in Italy designation.
CeramicArte Deruta hand-paints pieces in lava stone (pietra lavica) using non-toxic materials, with all work carried out in-house at its Via dell'industria workshop in Deruta. The company describes its production as entirely Made in Italy.
Dario Saltarelli hand-decorates ceramics from Corso Garibaldi 65 in the historic center of Montelupo Fiorentino, a ceramic-making town since 1300. Work spans reproductions of 14th- and 15th-century designs alongside contemporary Tuscan motifs of landscapes, sunflowers, grapes, and olives.
Best for Hand-decorated tuscan ceramic reproductions
Started more than sixty years ago by Cosmo di Palma and Maddalena Donatantonio in Ravello, Ceramiche Cosmolena hand-paints Amalfi Coast ceramic tableware, from tea cups and sugar bowls to decorative platters, now run by the founders' descendants.
Best for Hand-painted tableware and ceramics from a family workshop founded over sixty years
Ceramiche Cosmolena traces back more than sixty years to a young couple, Cosmo di Palma and Maddalena Donatantonio, who opened a small ceramics shop on Via San Francesco in Ravello, the combined syllables of their names giving the business its own. What began as one storefront grew over the following decades into four sales points around Ravello, on Italy's Amalfi Coast, as the couple's work found a following beyond the town itself.
The workshop sits within a much older regional tradition: ceramic-making on the Amalfi Coast dates to the medieval period, when Arab-influenced majolica in bold yellows and greens was already appearing on buildings like the bell tower of Amalfi's cathedral. Cosmolena's own range draws on that same palette and craft for functional and decorative tableware, sugar bowls, tea cups and saucers, appetizer platters and larger decorative pieces, each hand-painted rather than mass-produced. The business remains family-run from its current home on Via della Marra in Ravello, now carried on by di Palma and Donatantonio's children and grandchildren, who describe every piece as carrying forward not just a craft but the memory and trust built up across three generations of customers.
Ceramiche d'Arte F.L. Orgia has made ceramics since 1965, working from its base in Italy under the Made in Italy label. The workshop describes its process as crafting, painting, and creating pieces by hand.
This Ravello workshop makes its ceramics entirely by hand in both form and decoration, so each piece varies slightly. The range runs from coasters priced from about 12.50 EUR up to premium lava-stone tables, plus tableware, decorative plates and home decor.
Best for Hand-painted Amalfi Coast ceramics and lava-stone tables
Desiree Delfino's Sammartino e Delfino workshop hand-produces glazed ceramics from a showroom housed in the warehouses of a 1700s palace on Via Porta del Vento in Caltagirone. Pieces are finished with smaltatura glazing through a first and second firing (prima e seconda cottura).
Ceramiche Artigianali dei F.lli Dimino makes ceramic plates, albarelli jars, boccioni, chandeliers, clocks framed in iron and wood, centerpieces, biscuit jars and coffee sets from its shop on Piazza Saverio Friscia in Sciacca. The Dimino brothers continue work started by their father.
Founded in 1974 on the road toward Porto Azzurro, this family workshop throws and hand-decorates ceramics and heat-resistant terracotta for garden and home. Wheel-thrown pots, tableware and decorative pieces are made on-site and sold from the adjoining shop.
Ceramiche Elios has made hand-crafted artistic ceramics for the table since 1958 from its base between Nove and Bassano del Grappa in the Veneto. The firm, registered as Ceramiche Elios s.n.c., sells only to wholesalers, importers, distributors and other businesses, not directly to private customers.
Francesco Guarino opened his workshop in 1990, producing hand-painted maiolica pieces including vases, bomboniere, decorative tiles, and tableware. Styles draw on the historic Antico Savona designs originated by Giovanni Antonio Guidobono, alongside Calligrafico, Levantino, and Floreale patterns.
Best for Hand-painted maiolica vases and tableware
Ceramiche Lega has made ceramics in Faenza since 1950, when founder Leandro Lega began the workshop, later joined by his daughter Carla in 1975 and now run with her daughter Martina. Pieces are hand-modeled from thin clay sheets using cartoccio and colombino techniques and finished with metallic and iridescent reduction-luster glazes.
Ceramiche Mazzotti has produced maiolica since 1903, hand-shaping grey clay paste and decorating pieces in the Bianco e Blu style with a free-hand brush. The family workshop is linked to futurist ceramicist Tullio d'Albisola, and its Casa Mazzotti building was designed by architect Nicolaj Diulgheroff in 1932.
Ceramiche Nicola Fasano produces hand-painted tableware, vases and decorative ceramics in Grottaglie’s pottery district. Repeated motifs and colourways allow shoppers to build a service gradually rather than buying a fixed set.
Best for Grottaglie plates and the classic galletto.
Schittone Ceramiche was opened in Sciacca in 2002 by brothers Vincenzo and Giuseppe Schittone, who trained at the town's Istituto Statale d'Arte G. Bonachia. The workshop hand-paints ceramic Moor's heads, modern vases, fruit baskets, animal figures and statuettes.
Ceramiche Tombelli makes artistic ceramics from Via dell'Artigianato 22/24 in Montelupo Fiorentino, including interior art pieces (ceramica d'arte per interni) and tableware (ceramiche tavola). The workshop sells through its own shop and an outlet section for discounted pieces.
Terrecotte Corradini e Rinaldi has worked in Montelupo since 1960, producing ceramic and terracotta vases, urns (orci), planters, statues, busts, and animal figures. The workshop is based at Via Tosco Romagnola Nord 12 in the Camaioni district.
Born from the Aiello family behind the historic Grazia e Graziella boutique, Eco Capri turns island light into printed silk scarves, ceramics and accessories. Its Capri town shop is known for cheerful lemon- and majolica-tile motifs made in Italy.
Best for Printed silk scarves and island accessories
Fish House Art has exhibited and sold fish-shaped sculpture, ceramics, and jewelry from established and emerging artists at its Siracusa gallery since 2002. The gallery's workshop also creates and restores fish-themed pieces on site, with a dedicated "how to buy" guide for collectors.
The Doccia porcelain manufactory — Tuscan porcelain art since 1735, from Oriente Italiano to Luke Edward Hall. The Florence shop has occupied the ground floor of Palazzo Ginori on Via dei Rondinelli since 1802.
Best for Oriente Italiano porcelain and collector tableware.
Marquis Carlo Ginori founded his porcelain manufactory at Doccia, outside Florence, in 1735 — among Europe's first, racing Meissen and Vienna to master the Chinese secret — and Tuscan aristocratic ambition set the register permanently: sculptural porcelain, painted by hand, meant for palaces. The 1896 merger with Milan's Richard company created Richard Ginori; Gio Ponti's artistic directorship in the 1920s produced Art Deco porcelain of such wit and rigor that his pieces anchor design museums worldwide.
The house's modern rescue is a Florentine story too: Gucci acquired the bankrupt manufactory in 2013, restoring it as Ginori 1735 under Kering — Oriente Italiano's saturated botanical dinnerware became the flagship collection, and collaborations with Luke Edward Hall and scented-candle lines in Labirinto reliefs recruited a new generation to the shelf.
Production continues at Sesto Fiorentino beside the company museum's three centuries of molds. Ginori remains Italy's porcelain aristocracy: the table as fresco, fired at 1,400 degrees.
Gubbio Ceramica hand-makes ceramic flowers (fiori realizzati artigianalmente in ceramica) and decorative objects including ceramic hot air balloons, using Italian raw materials. The workshop, based in Gubbio, is represented by Paolo, who describes the pieces as unique handmade objects (oggetti unici in ceramica fatti a mano).
An Amalfi Coast ceramics maker with a showroom in Amalfi, producing hand-painted pottery. The range spans tile panels, dinner services and decorative ware.
Founded in Cagliari in 2003 and now working from Selargius, this family studio hand-makes tableware, lamps, clocks and bomboniere in Sardinian artistic style. Every piece is formed and decorated by hand, including custom orders for local restaurants and hotels.
This Alberobello shop gathers Apulian food specialities and handcrafted pottery under one roof, from regional olive-oil goods to local ceramics. Everything traces back to Puglia's kitchens and kilns.
La Bacheca hand-throws and hand-paints Amalfi Coast ceramics in its Praiano workshop on Via Capriglione, selling table settings, wall plates, and decorative jugs both in-store and through its online shop. Every piece is made individually, so glaze and form vary slightly from one to the next.
Best for Hand-painted Amalfi Coast ceramics, table settings, wall plates, and jugs
La Marchesa Ceramiche di Caltagirone produces entirely handcrafted Caltagirone ceramics, working with masters, artisans, and artists from Caltagirone. The company states twenty years of experience in the craft.
La Vecchia Faenza has hand-painted maiolica since 1968 under Laura Silvagni, from Via S. Ippolito 23/A in Faenza. Traditional patterns include Garofano, Palmetta Persiana, Melograno, Compendiario, Berrettino, and Alla Raffaellesca.
Best for Hand-painted traditional maiolica patterns
Lacapasa is a handmade-ceramics shop in Grottaglie, Puglia (Via Talete 18), specializing in the pumo — the region's traditional ceramic good-luck ornament — alongside other Grottaglie pottery forms.
Best for Lucky pumi and Puglian table ceramics.
Lacapasa is a ceramics shop based in Grottaglie, in Italy's Puglia region (province of Taranto), at Via Talete 18 — a town historically known for its concentration of pottery kilns and workshops. The shop sells handmade Puglian ceramics made by Grottaglie's ceramic artisans, centered on the pumo, a decorative object built from stylized acanthus-leaf forms traditionally given as a gift symbolizing good fortune, new beginnings, or a break with the past. The range also includes ceramic pine cones and other regional forms, sold both from the physical shop and via its online store.
Independent listings place the business at roughly 147 Google reviews with an average rating near 4.9 out of 5, consistent with a small, locally established artisan retailer rather than a chain.
This Manarola shop on Via Birolli gathers Cinque Terre products under one roof, from local wine and Italian ceramics to handmade jewelry, prints, clothing and regional foods. Run by Il Porticciolo SRL and open every day, it ships worldwide and takes special orders by request.
Best for Local-wine, handmade-ceramics, jewelry, art-prints, souvenirs, local-food
Manifattura Giuseppe Mazzotti 1903 was founded in 1903 by Giuseppe Bausin Mazzotti and continues entirely manual ceramic processing in the Bianco e Blu and Antico Savona styles. Leadership passed through Torido, Giuseppe Bepi, and Tullio Mazzotti, and the Fondazione Giuseppe Mazzotti 1903 was established in 2002.
Best for Hand-crafted bianco e blu ceramics since 1903
Sapori e Colori is a family-run limoncello factory in Sorrento's historic center, producing handcrafted limoncello, cream liqueurs, olive oil, and Vietri-style ceramics since 2005. The shop ships to over 100 countries and sells directly from its Via San Cesareo storefront and webshop.
Best for Handcrafted limoncello, cream liqueurs, olive oil
Sapori e Profumi di Positano has run the self-styled 'Lemon Shop' from Via dei Mulini in Positano since 1986, turning its own untreated lemons into limoncello, candies, soaps and home fragrances. The shop also sells hand-painted ceramics and San Leucio silk bags, both in-store and online.
Sil.Va Ceramica works from Palazzo Crescimanno Gravina on Piazza Umberto I in Caltagirone, producing figurines, tableware, and tiles finished with smaltatura glazing through a first and second firing. The workshop, associated with Valeria La Spina, Emanuela Maniglia, and Maestro Silvestro Saporito, has been visited by art critic Vittorio Sgarbi.
Sorrento e sells handcrafted Italian ceramics -- trays, dishes, and decor in geometric, floral, and coastal motifs -- made by artisans working in the Caltagirone tradition since 1970. The shop operates two physical locations in Sorrento alongside an international online store.
Best for Handcrafted ceramics in the Caltagirone tradition since 1970
Stefano Monteforte has made artistic ceramics in Grottaglie since 1978, working in both traditional and contemporary ceramic styles. His workshop, in the Murgia region of Puglia, is described as a bottega producing handcrafted pieces.
Set in Alberobello's trulli district, this shop deals in Apulian ceramics and bomboniere, the favours handed out at weddings and celebrations. The pottery is handcrafted locally in the Puglian tradition.
Bettini Germano S.n.C. produces hand-modeled and hand-painted maiolica and terracotta from its workshop on Via Tiberina in Deruta. The business describes itself as having passed through generations of the family.
This shop on Via Garibaldi carries hand-painted Caltagirone ceramics, Etna lava-stone objects, terracotta and Moor's-head vases drawn from Sicilian craft traditions. Its range extends to handcrafted jewelry, bags and souvenirs sold in store and shipped online.
Best for Caltagirone ceramics and lava-stone craft