Ceramics of Siena

Traditional pottery of Siena

One aspect in which you express the material culture, the traditions and the floklore of a population or geographical region is the production of ceramics: in fact, being the table and kitchen ware absolutely essential for the everyday life, virtually every city and town of Italy has generated its own forms, colors and special decorations.

Also Siena obviously is no exception to the rule, and its traditional pottery reproduce the most typical aspects of the city, namely the decoration of the wonderful inlaid floor of the Duomo, the colors and heraldry of the seventeen contrade in which the old town is divided (and participating in the famous Palio), and finally the sweet rolling landscapes of Crete, the real archetype of the Tuscan countryside.

Black and white decoration

The most typical and famous Sienese decoration is perhaps the motif called Black and White, like the colors of Balzana, the old coat of arms.

But white and black - along with some touches of red - also appear in the already mentioned inlaid floor of the Duomo, started in the second half of the fourteenth century, and according to the tradition (but there is no evidence in this regard) devised by the great Sienese painter Duccio di Buoninsegna. Ceramics takes some very famous portions, including a panel in which two deer crouched with a collar of bells (and therefore domestic) guard a vase - probably identifiable with the Holy Grail - decorated with acanthus leaves: the scene is rich of symbolism, because in some medieval bestiary deer drew the figure of Christ.

This decoration is therefore dominated by the figure of one or more white deer on a black background (inserted individually, addressed as in the original floor or also, in the case of the plates, arranged in a concentric composition), together with other accessory items such as pots, acanthus leaves and a sort of Greek border plant typically medieval: lozenges formed by simple red and white on a black background and attested in painted decoration (such as false tapestries) of many buildings of the fourteenth century too far from Siena, in the decoration of ceramics appears especially in the border of plates, bowls and vases.


The overall style looks from the fifteenth century: we find beautiful models in the production (including bowls, pitchers, vases and show plates) of the workshop Black and White Sonia Staccioli, where each piece is produced entirely by hand according to the ancient methods of work.

Heraldry of Contrada

Another decoration very requested concerns the heraldry of Contrada, which meets great success not only among the many tourists who visit Siena and attend the Palio, but especially among the same Contrada, who like to surround and collect everyday objects related to their own contrada. Are the same Contrada to commission custom artifacts to adorn their houses or to give to other Contrada or its contradaioli on special occasions, including of course the victory celebrations of a Palio.

A typical tourist souvenirs consists of large show plates or tiles, where the crests of Contrada appear together with some images of the Piazza del Campo.

The production for local use instead presents the emblem of one Contrada background of geometric designs in their heraldic colors.

The production of the workshop Ceramics BIBI Sabrina Pagliai therefore covers a wide range of everyday objects (including bowls, plates, trays, ladles holders, ashtrays, sugar bowls, jugs for water and wine, milk jugs, glasses, cups and saucers, tea salt and pepper) decorated with heraldry of Contrada: in the photo on the right we see some objects by Selva, decorated with coat of arms (a rhino under an oak tree) and its heraldic colors (white, green and orange).

Landscapes of Crete

Also the shop Bianco & Nero by Sonia Staccioli has finally created a number of items decorated with some views portrayed with great realism by reproducing also the most minute details - the beautiful landscapes of Crete (considered by many the true Tuscan countryside) characterized by sequences rolling hills, vineyards, cypress trees, wheat fields, small stone bridges, streets dirt and isolated farmhouses.

The line includes flasks of oil, a biscuit, a tile from exposure with wooden frame, a cutting board and three different models of ornamental plates.