Buongiorno Ceramica! Terracotta Festival of Montelupo Fiorentino

Montelupo Fiorentino, the city of ceramics

There is a place in Tuscany where clay has been turned into art for over seven centuries: Montelupo Fiorentino, a town in the Metropolitan City of Florence overlooking the Arno river. Since the Middle Ages, its kilns have produced majolica and terracotta exported throughout Europe, making the name Montelupo synonymous with Florentine ceramics. Today, artisan workshops, schools, museums, and master potters still keep this legacy alive: and it is precisely to celebrate it that every year, in spring, Buongiorno Ceramica! - Terracotta Festival takes center stage.

A national festival with deep roots in Montelupo

The Montelupo event is part of Buongiorno Ceramica!, the major nationwide festival of Italian ceramics that involves over fifty cities united by their artisanal tradition and the cultural value of artistic ceramics. In Montelupo Fiorentino, this national initiative intertwines with the historic Terracotta Festival, which reaches its twenty-fourth edition in 2026: an appointment that the town awaits and prepares with care, involving associations, schools, local committees, and workshops.

What to experience during the festival

For three days, the historic center and the iconic sites of Montelupo's ceramic heritage come alive with exhibitions, workshops, guided tours, live demonstrations, activities for children, and meetings with artisans. Kilns are built and fired up in the squares, master potters shape clay in front of the public, while students and artists showcase the different facets of a craft that blends tradition and modernity in Montelupo.

• Live demonstrations by master potters and students from the Art High School
• Free guided tours of the Ceramics Museum, the Bitossi Museum Archive, and artist studios
• Creative workshops for families and children
• Exhibitions dedicated to artists and the local ceramic culture
• Construction and spectacular opening of the ceramic kiln, one of the most anticipated moments
• Dinner in the square, live music, and festive moments

Between contemporary art and popular roots

The beauty of Buongiorno Ceramica in Montelupo lies in the continuous dialogue between past and present: alongside traditional terracotta, there is space for contemporary art installations, urban trekking routes among the works scattered throughout the town, and projects that reinterpret ceramic material in a modern key. A walk through the streets of the village, with workshops open and kilns lit, is the best way to understand why Montelupo Fiorentino is considered one of the Italian capitals of ceramics.

An event for everyone

Most activities are free and open to the public; some guided tours and workshops require mandatory booking. The festival takes place in the historic center and in Piazza Francesco Bitossi, in the hamlet of Samminiatello, and is designed to welcome families, craft enthusiasts, tourists, and curious visitors of all ages.