Perugia & Deruta - July 6

We set out for Perugia to visit the Perugina factory where they make Baci. We got turned around and had trouble finding the factory, but eventually came across it. The last English tour of the day had just concluded, but the staff said that we could taste and show ourselves around the museum. We did get an English brochure and managed to understand most of the displays. We learned that they are not actually touring the factory itself until August. Disappointed, but having had our fill of Nestle products, we bought a large box of Baci and headed on.

The heat was worse, up to 34C today and we decided to abandon our exploration of Perugia and our picnic lunch and head home to eat our panini and go back out in the late afternoon. We had the pool to ourselves for hours and as the sky darkened and thunder rumbled, we headed out to Deruta.

It’s nearby, but you have to travel by little unmarked roads. We mistakenly drove into the small village of Castello del Forme, where a villager sitting on a bench actually had to pull in her legs so that we could pass! Then to get out of town we had to take a tight left through an arch and there was literally less than two inches of clearance from the side-view mirrors of our little car. We took a wrong turn coming out of town and wound up tracing a large circle back toward where we came. When we came back to the turn for Castello del Forme everyone was laughing hysterically at the thought of going past the lady again (a la ‘European Vacation:’ “Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!” This time we turned the other way and got back on track.

Deruta reminded me of the potteries in Stoke-on-Trent. They have been making majolica here for centuries. Factory after factory is located on the outskirts of town and the showrooms are up in the old town. We walked into the first shop and found so much that we loved. The shopkeeper showed us over a dozen patterns, and we decided that our favorites were the geometric designs. The peacock style in particular appealed to us all. Afraid to commit to buy in the first shop, we continued on. In one small place a woman showed us where her husband threw the clay and the hand-painting that she did, as well as the stages of firing. Understanding her Italian was not a problem as she was so demonstrative that even the girls understood the process. Alas, her styles were lovely, but not our taste.

The Rafaelesco design is most typical of Deruta pottery. Almost every shop features this pattern. Others are more religious in design; one shop has produced the same patterns of saints and popes since the 15th century. We decided that the first shop was our favorite, but when we got back there at 6:30 they had closed early. So we bought the girls gelati and resolved to return.

We had grilled fillet and a bottle of Monte Vibbiano MontVi (a blended red with 80% Sangiovese) for dinner on the terrace.