Gualdo Tadino maiolica has established itself as one of the city’s most important products since the 14th century. In 1361 a certain Angelo da Gualdo was the official ceramics supplier of the Sacro Convento di Assisi for the festa del Perdono (Forgiveness festival). In the following century, the fame of Gualdo’s ceramic production increased such that a law passed by the city of Gubbio in 1456 allowed the sale, by way of an exception, of valuable vases and pots from Gualdo on the city’s markets throughout the year. Later, the reputation of this maiolica reached Rome: in the 17th century, a ceramist obtained permission from the Pope to apply gold to ceramics according to an innovative technique developed in the city. The foundations were thereby laid for the development of the specific technique that would transfer the fame of Gualdo ceramics outside Italy’s borders some two centuries later, that is, the revival of the fascinating technique of lusterware. In 1873, after almost 400 years, Paolo Rubboli rediscovered this technique, which gives ceramic such extraordinary iridescence that it makes it look like a precious metal. Gualdo Tadino still carefully preserves this tradition, both through the Museo della ceramica – Casa Cajani, which exhibits some of the finest maiolica ever produced in the area, and because the tradition has been maintained over time, to the extent that ceramics has become one of the city’s most important economic drivers.
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