LE MAIOLICHE RINASCIMENTALI DI CASTROCARO

Over the last decades, the medieval village of Castrocaro and its massive Fortress have brought to light a large amount of ceramics and majolica dating to the Middle Ages and Renaissance, which witnessed a lot of trade between this village resting along the bank of the Montone river and a number of places like Faenza, Rimini, Pesaro, Urbino and Ferrara.

Today these findings are on display in the Fortress of Castrocaro, in an exhibition organized by the scholar and researcher Elio Caruso, who is also the museum director.

Numberless valuable ceramics have been discovered in the Fortress of Castrocaro during the renovation works carried out over the last few years: it is tangible evidence of the life at the Castle.

The finds saved from destruction by the volunteers of the Proloco of Castrocaro under the direction of Elio Caruso represent valuable materials for studying the history of the castle and the town.

The large variety of tools discovered show how local needs were satisfied.
Some of the objects being studied are pottery of common use, both for eating and cooking, manufactured also locally using cheap materials and simple decorations.

Besides such cheap tools used by the population, high quality pottery was also found: bowls, dishes, jugs, salt-shakers and majolica jars mainly shown off in the houses and palaces of wealthier people. The said objects were requested by demanding customers from the ceramic workshops of Faenza. Other tools are typical of Rimini, Urbino and Ferrara.

From 1403 and throughout the Renaissance onward, Castrocaro was the capital of Tuscan Romagna, the destination of the most educated and high-ranking people. Therefore Castrocaro was likely to stand out economically among the other towns of the province, which were not rich enough to be able to afford valuable furnishings.

The heraldic decorations and the traces of the different ways in which the discovered pottery was used show the habits, preferences and social conditions of the people living in the fortress from the 11th to the 17th century.

Among the decorated majolica, worth noticing is the dish decorated with the Medici crest.