Buongiorno Ceramica! – Caltagirone

The national ceramics festival arrives in Caltagirone

Buongiorno Ceramica! is Italy's most important event dedicated to ceramic art and craftsmanship, promoted annually by the AiCC – Italian Association of Ceramic Cities. It is a widespread festival that, over the same weekend, involves around sixty Italian cities recognized for their ancient pottery traditions: from the villages of Piedmont to Sicily, passing through Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Campania, and Puglia. For two days, historic centers, museums, and workshops transform into open-air studios.

In Caltagirone, in the heart of the Catania province, ceramics are not just a folkloric detail but the very soul of the city: the famous Scalinata di Santa Maria del Monte, covered in hand-painted majolica, is the globally recognized symbol of this bond. It is no surprise that this town is one of the most enthusiastic participants in Buongiorno Ceramica!, with a program hosted at the Hermann Hoffmann Ceramics Museum, located at via Stazione Isolamento 51.

Exhibitions, workshops, and the culture of making

The heart of the Caltagirone event lies in the blend of authorial exhibitions and hands-on experiences. The exhibitions set up at the Hoffmann Museum remain open well beyond the inaugural weekend, welcoming the public on subsequent weekends. Alongside the displays, there are creative clay-manipulation workshops, live demonstrations, folk music, and guided tours of the calanchi (badlands), the evocative clay landscape surrounding the city—which, fittingly, is the raw material from which the entire Caltagirone ceramic tradition is born.

A living, contemporary tradition

What makes Buongiorno Ceramica! in Caltagirone special is its ability to bridge historical heritage with contemporary research. Local ceramicists and master craftsmen open their work to the public, showcasing ancient techniques of wheel-throwing, modeling, and hand-decoration. It is an invitation to step into the workshops, touch the clay, and understand why this Sicilian city is included among the UNESCO World Heritage sites of the Sicilian Baroque.

• Where: Hermann Hoffmann Ceramics Museum, Caltagirone (CT)
• When: The last weekend of May, with exhibitions extended until the end of June
• For whom: Families, children, art and craft enthusiasts, tourists
• Admission: Free for the widespread event

Visiting Caltagirone during Buongiorno Ceramica! means experiencing the city at its most authentic, when the entire community celebrates the craft that defined its name and history.