Deruta
Encyclopedia
Deruta is a hill town
and comune
in the Province of Perugia
in the Umbria
region of central Italy
. Long known as a center of refined maiolica
manufacture, Deruta remains known for its ceramics
, which are exported worldwide.
and the Lombard invasion
. The Medieval commune
that rose from these ruins had its own charter in the 13th century and was governed from its own Palazzo of the Consuls, but in fact Deruta has been under the dominion of neighboring Perugia
since the 11th century, and has largely participated in Perugia's vicissitudes. The town's fortifications date from the 12th century, when it was an outpost in Perugia's marches
, facing the rival town of Todi
. In 1465, under a new agreement with Perugia, the magistrate sent from Perugia would govern with the consent of four local men of good character (quattro boni omini). The ravages of plague
were so fierce at Deruta that rewalling in the later 15th century took in a smaller circuit to accommodate the reduced population. Besieged in 1408 during the confusion of the Papal Schism by the condottiere Braccio da Montone
, and later heavily damaged by Cesare Borgia
, Deruta was plundered by Braccio Baglioni, the master of Perugia. Thus in 1540, when the Papal forces of Pope Paul III
ousted the Baglioni family
from Perugia in the brief war over salt taxes locally called the "Salt War" (Guerra del Sale), Deruta sided with the papacy against Perugia, an alliance that gained it a reduction in taxes. With the papal reduction of Perugia, the region settled down to uneventful history as part of the Papal States
.
The local clay was good for ceramics, whose production began in the Early Middle Ages
, but found its artistic peak in the 15th and early 16th century, with highly characteristic local styles, such as the "Bella Donna" plates with conventional portraits of beauties, whose names appear on fluttering banderoles with flattering inscriptions. The lack of fuel enforced low firing temperatures, but from the beginning of the 16th century, Deruta compensated with its metallic lustre glazes in golds and ruby red. In the 16th century Deruta produced the so-called "Rafaellesque" ware, decorated with fine arabesques and grottesche on a fine white ground.
Deruta, with Gubbio and Urbino, continues to produced some of the finest Italian maiolica.
The art gallery's holdings consist of a fresco by Perugino, depicting San Romano and San Rocco (1476), and the collection donated by a local patron, Lione Pascoli, which includes works by Niccolò di Liberatore, called Alunno
, Giovan Battista Gaulli, Sebastiano Conca
, Francesco Trevisani
, Antonio Amorosi
, Francesco Graziani
and Pieter Van Bloemen. The gallery also houses works received from various Deruta churches including San Francesco, Sant' Antonio, the Defunti di Ripabianca and the Ospedale San Giacomo.
The church of Sant'Antonio, with frescoes by Bartolommeo
and Giovanni Battista Caporali
, rises at the end of a narrow street, Via Mastro Giorgio. Another church worth seeing is the Madonna del Divino Amore on Piazza Cavour.
Along the Tiberina road, at the foot of the old town, yet another church, the Madonna delle Piagge, is clad in a colorful array of ceramic tiles.
Deruta was the birthplace of Girolamo Diruta
, an organist, music theorist, and composer.
Hill town
Hill town is the term used to describe citadel towns built upon hills to ward off invaders. Often protected by defensive walls, steep embankments, or cliffs, such hilltop settlements provided natural defenses for their inhabitants....
and comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
in the Province of Perugia
Province of Perugia
The Province of Perugia is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia...
in the Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
region of central Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. Long known as a center of refined maiolica
Maiolica
Maiolica is Italian tin-glazed pottery dating from the Renaissance. It is decorated in bright colours on a white background, frequently depicting historical and legendary scenes.-Name:...
manufacture, Deruta remains known for its ceramics
Deruta Ceramics
Deruta Ceramics are a type of enamelled ceramics produced in the Italian town of Deruta.-Overview:Deruta ceramics are a typical product of Deruta, a picturesque medieval hilltown in Umbria, Italy...
, which are exported worldwide.
History
Probably built upon Roman foundations, Deruta's name in its early variants (Ruto, Ruta, Rupta, Direpta and Diruta) all signify the “ruin” of this strategic site caused by the 6th-century Gothic WarGothic War (535–552)
The Gothic War between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy was fought from 535 until 554 in Italy, Dalmatia, Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica. It is commonly divided into two phases. The first phase lasted from 535 to 540 and ended with the fall of Ravenna and the apparent...
and the Lombard invasion
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
. The Medieval commune
Medieval commune
Medieval communes in the European Middle Ages had sworn allegiances of mutual defense among the citizens of a town or city. They took many forms, and varied widely in organization and makeup. Communes are first recorded in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, thereafter becoming a widespread...
that rose from these ruins had its own charter in the 13th century and was governed from its own Palazzo of the Consuls, but in fact Deruta has been under the dominion of neighboring Perugia
Perugia
Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....
since the 11th century, and has largely participated in Perugia's vicissitudes. The town's fortifications date from the 12th century, when it was an outpost in Perugia's marches
Marches
A march or mark refers to a border region similar to a frontier, such as the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales. During the Frankish Carolingian Dynasty, the word spread throughout Europe....
, facing the rival town of Todi
Todi
Todi is a town and comune of the province of Perugia in central Italy. It is perched on a tall two-crested hill overlooking the east bank of the river Tiber, commanding distant views in every direction.In the 1990s, Richard S...
. In 1465, under a new agreement with Perugia, the magistrate sent from Perugia would govern with the consent of four local men of good character (quattro boni omini). The ravages of plague
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
were so fierce at Deruta that rewalling in the later 15th century took in a smaller circuit to accommodate the reduced population. Besieged in 1408 during the confusion of the Papal Schism by the condottiere Braccio da Montone
Braccio da Montone
frame|Braccio da Montone.Braccio da Montone , born Andrea Fortebracci, and also known as Braccio Fortebraccio, was an Italian condottiero.-Biography:...
, and later heavily damaged by Cesare Borgia
Cesare Borgia
Cesare Borgia , Duke of Valentinois, was an Italian condottiero, nobleman, politician, and cardinal. He was the son of Pope Alexander VI and his long-term mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei. He was the brother of Lucrezia Borgia; Giovanni Borgia , Duke of Gandia; and Gioffre Borgia , Prince of Squillace...
, Deruta was plundered by Braccio Baglioni, the master of Perugia. Thus in 1540, when the Papal forces of Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III
Pope Paul III , born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 to his death in 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation...
ousted the Baglioni family
Baglioni
Baglioni is an Italian surname and may refer to:*Claudio Baglioni Italian musician*Piero Baglioni , Italian chemist and University professor at the University of Florence...
from Perugia in the brief war over salt taxes locally called the "Salt War" (Guerra del Sale), Deruta sided with the papacy against Perugia, an alliance that gained it a reduction in taxes. With the papal reduction of Perugia, the region settled down to uneventful history as part of the Papal States
Papal States
The Papal State, State of the Church, or Pontifical States were among the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
.
Ceramics
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
, but found its artistic peak in the 15th and early 16th century, with highly characteristic local styles, such as the "Bella Donna" plates with conventional portraits of beauties, whose names appear on fluttering banderoles with flattering inscriptions. The lack of fuel enforced low firing temperatures, but from the beginning of the 16th century, Deruta compensated with its metallic lustre glazes in golds and ruby red. In the 16th century Deruta produced the so-called "Rafaellesque" ware, decorated with fine arabesques and grottesche on a fine white ground.
Deruta, with Gubbio and Urbino, continues to produced some of the finest Italian maiolica.
Main sights
The historic town center features the Gothic church of San Francesco built in 1388, and the Palazzetto Municipale (Town Hall), which dates from about 1300, located on the Piazza dei Consoli (the "Square of the Consuls"). In addition to the usual governmental offices, the municipal hall houses a Museum of Ceramics, an art gallery (the Pinacoteca), and a capacious atrium in which one can view a variety of archaeological finds, some of which date to Neolithic times.The art gallery's holdings consist of a fresco by Perugino, depicting San Romano and San Rocco (1476), and the collection donated by a local patron, Lione Pascoli, which includes works by Niccolò di Liberatore, called Alunno
Niccolò Alunno
Niccolò Alunno was an Italian painter of the Umbrian school.He was born at Foligno, the son of speziali. He was a pupil of Bartolomeo di Tomaso; his master's assistant was Benozzo Gozzoli, the pupil of Fra Angelico. The simple Umbrian feeling in his work was somehow modified by this Florentine...
, Giovan Battista Gaulli, Sebastiano Conca
Sebastiano Conca
Sebastiano Conca was an Italian painter.He was born at Gaeta, then part of the Kingdom of Naples, and apprenticed in Naples under Francesco Solimena. In 1706, along with his brother Giovanni, who acted as his assistant, he settled at Rome, where for several years he worked in chalk only, to...
, Francesco Trevisani
Francesco Trevisani
thumb|250px|Portrait of [[Pietro Ottoboni |Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni]] by Francesco Trevisani. The [[Bowes Museum]], [[Barnard Castle]], [[County Durham]], [[England]]....
, Antonio Amorosi
Antonio Amorosi
Antonio Amorosi was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque, active in Ascoli Piceno and Rome.Amorosi was born in Comunanza, then part of the Papal States. In 1668 he moved to Rome where he was trained by Giuseppe Ghezzi. He painted genre scenes similar to those of the Bamboccianti.-References:...
, Francesco Graziani
Francesco Graziani
Francesco "Ciccio" Graziani is an Italy football manager and former player.-Playing career:Graziani was born in Subiaco, in the province of Rome....
and Pieter Van Bloemen. The gallery also houses works received from various Deruta churches including San Francesco, Sant' Antonio, the Defunti di Ripabianca and the Ospedale San Giacomo.
The church of Sant'Antonio, with frescoes by Bartolommeo
Bartolommeo Caporali
Bartolomeo Caporali was an Italian painter born and active in Perugia. He painted a Madonna and Saints for the church of Santa Maria Maddalena at Castiglione del Lago.-References:*Artfact,...
and Giovanni Battista Caporali
Giovanni Battista Caporali
Giovanni Battista Caporali was an Italian painter of the Renaissance.He was also called Bitti, a diminutive of his Christian name and by Vasari, Benedetto, was the son of Bartolommeo Caporali, and was born at Perugia...
, rises at the end of a narrow street, Via Mastro Giorgio. Another church worth seeing is the Madonna del Divino Amore on Piazza Cavour.
Along the Tiberina road, at the foot of the old town, yet another church, the Madonna delle Piagge, is clad in a colorful array of ceramic tiles.
Deruta was the birthplace of Girolamo Diruta
Girolamo Diruta
Girolamo Diruta was an Italian organist, music theorist, and composer. He was famous as a teacher, for his treatise on counterpoint, and for his part in the development of keyboard technique, particularly on the organ...
, an organist, music theorist, and composer.
External links
- Official Comune di Deruta (City of Deruta) website
- Borough of deruta: the history
- In Love with Italy -Deruta-Edition 6
- Deruta International School of Ceramics
- Deruta and Ceramics News under the Patronage of the Deruta Borough Municipality
- Free ceramic artist research by deruta
- The Deruta Ceramists Network
- Brief history and pictures of Deruta
- Deruta Info