Ceramics City: Vietri sul Mare, Italy, has shaped a reputation

Most travelers to Italy’s Amalfi Coast ooh and aah their way along the spectacular cliffside drive without ever discovering the pottery paradise of Vietri sul Mare.

Tour guidebooks barely mention Vietri, and those that do fail to note that the town is the origin of those gorgeous dishes, flowerpots, vases and tiles found in restaurants, hotels and homes throughout the Amalfi area.

Vietri sul Mare, or Vietri on the Sea, is the last or first town on the Amalfi Coast, depending on whether you begin at Sorrento or Salerno.

The town likes to call itself “The First Pearl of the Amalfi,” claiming that the Amalfi begins at Vietri, which is just west of Salerno.

the artists’ collections, you can make your floors with your own ideas, your plates with your own ideas.”

A history of quality

Vietri, pronounced vee-AY-tree, has been a ceramics-producing town since the 15th century. Today, there are about 40 “mom and pop” ceramic producers in town, most of which have been handed down through families for generations, along with the techniques,

The tableware dishes are lead-free, dishwasher safe and microwave safe.

VIETRI SUL MARE

The first town we find coming from Salerno is Vietri sul Mare.
The town is built on a little promontory, and on the seaside where we find an impressive Saracena tower.

Vietri was the old town of “Marcina”, built by the Etrurian. Later the Roman conquered it. In fact a Roman thermae and a “murus reticulatum” were found recently by the seaside.

In the middle age Vietri was under the Dukedom of Salerno, later under the Cava Abbey. Only in the XVIII century Vietri began an indipendent municipality.

Places to visit :.

The church of St. Giovanni Battista, with its dome covered with majolic ceramics. Built in the X century, with a wide aisle, on a latin Cross layout.
In the church,we can see an ancient greek Cross, from the XV century.

Other interesting places in Vietri are: Molina, rich of water-mills and Raito, where we find the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, built in the XVI century, with its frescoes painted by the school of Solimena.

Vietri sul Mare has been producing ceramics since the XV century, its trade was especially with Sicily and Calabria. The decoration of Vietri ceramic, reproduces the typical colours of the coast.