As I’ve mentioned before, Santo Stefano di Camastra is a relatively small town. And yet, it is one of three Sicilian towns celebrated for their ceramics, the other two being Caltagirone and Sciacca. According to an article in Italy Magazine, Santo Stefano di Camastra is “a town that’s well known and highly regarded for its traditional ceramic production, resulting in ceramic mosaics, tiles and shingles.” Scopri la Sicilia reports that “The Sicilian ceramics of Santo Stefano di Camastra are among the best known and appreciated of the handicraft production in Sicily.”
I knew nothing about their ceramics when I started planning this trip. Santo Stefano di Camastra was simply the place where my grandparents came from. When our Road Scholar guide heard we were going there, the first thing he said was that this town was famous for its ceramics. So, I planned to look for some when we got there. As it turns out, you can’t miss it — it’s everywhere! Benches on sidewalks, pots holding plants on light poles, pictures in sidewalks, decorative art on fences, street signs and addresses, the entire front of a store — they were all made of, covered with, or incorporated ceramics. Even the large fountain in the park was covered with a riot of colorful ceramics and topped with traditional ceramic Sicilian pine cones.
Mouse over the small photos in galleries to see captions.
Click on any one to enlarge, then use arrows to scroll through the rest of the images.
To top it off, there is an annual event called Inceramicata Stefanese that has a different theme every year. The theme for the year 2019 was “Refuge of Nature” and the large ceramic pieces from that year could be seen amidst the palm trees along the Via delle Palme overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. The translations of the titles of these works are in the captions of the pictures below.
It was a sunny-blue-sky day, perfect for a leisurely walk. Via Umberto I, the street that borders the old part of town, was lined with trees and benches and backed by the distant hills. The street also ran along the edge of the park that looked out over the sea. There was an observation tower nearby with an elderly gentleman in the adjacent booth. He took us up and unlocked a gate so we could go in and look down along the Sicilian coast. When we walked back down he came along to show us some of the topiary in the garden. His English was as good as my Italian and he didn’t want to use my Google Translate app, but we thought he described two trees on opposite sides of the path as boxers. At least that’s what his pantomime looked like.
Walking down Via Vittorio Emanuele, one of the main streets through the center of town, we stepped into the courtyard of Callas Art and Jewels. The potted palms, flowers, vines and pottery were beautiful, but we weren’t really shopping and the store looked out of our price range so we continued on our way. The entrance to another courtyard had beautiful ceramic artwork in the sidewalk. We passed what I assumed to be an apartment where the afternoon sun cast a bright light and dark shadows across the yellow wall and green door. Sometimes it’s just the color that makes me stop and take a photograph. Then we came across a rather interesting sight. It must have been garbage collection day and some carts were hanging from ropes. It looked like residents on the second floor “put out their garbage” by using ropes to lower the bins down to the sidewalk from their balconies.
When we first arrived, we hadn’t thought about purchasing ceramics. As we neared the end of our stay in Santo Stefano di Camastra, however, we thought we really should get something. So, we focused our attention again on ceramics. It was, obviously, not difficult to locate ceramic shops and many had beautiful displays of their wares out front. There were many colorful plates and pots sitting out. One huge urn on a pedestal was at least six feet tall. If you put plants in it you’d need a ladder to water them. Sicilian Moor’s Head vases were also a very popular item. They represent the legend of a Sicilian girl and an Arab man who fell in love. Because of their forbidden love, they were beheaded by her parents and their heads were turned into vases — a rather gruesome tale if you ask me. The pieces we saw were all quite interesting but we needed some smaller, less expensive items. We eventually found a shop full of ceramics, large and small. While we shopped, the shopkeeper relaxed and played cards with a friend. We bought a few colorful pieces of tile.
After granting us over two weeks of Sicilian sunshine, one day the weather gods finally decided to give us rain — most of the day, actually. We stayed in, did a lot of reading and ate some yogurt and left-over pizza for lunch. The rain finally let up in the early evening, so we donned our rain gear and walked to where we could watch the sunset in the slowly-clearing sky. The changing weather caused the color of the sky to change from gray to dark blue to light blue to orange and yellow. Then we walked to the nearby Caffe’ Belvedere for dinner.
It was an enjoyable coincidence that this was our 52nd wedding anniversary. This wasn’t planned; we just signed up for the only tour of Sicily that still had openings. We started our meal with wine, of course. When the waitress poured the wine I mentioned that it was our anniversary. Our meal was very simple. Kathy had a mushroom pizza and I had a sausage that was baked in bread. For dessert we went over to the counter and selected some big scoops of gelato. When the waitress served it, the gelato was smothered in chocolate and topped with big chocolate hearts. It was delivered on a platter with flowers and the number 52. What a nice surprise! We thanked her very much for this unexpected treat. When I went to pay the bill I was told there would be no charge for the gelato because it was for our anniversary. I would have to say that the Sicilians we met on our trip were all very welcoming.
The sunset was nice, our anniversary was nice and our time in Santo Stefano di Camastra was very nice. But tomorrow we have to leave.
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