Castelli: Abruzzo's ceramic homeland.

Castelli is located beneath the majestic Monte Camicia (in the Gran Sasso massif), whose view is as beautiful as the Dolomites. It is surrounded by lush green forests, and it lays among the resounding joy of the waters of two creeks.
Its inhabitants were trained to the ceramic art first by the Etruscans and then by the Benedictines who in the Middle Ages had a famous monastery close to the wood: san Salvatore in Castelli. From their chemical laboratory was first produced the lead enamel for the majolica, even before it was used by Della Robbia brothers in Florence, as demonstrated by fragments found in the dump deposits around the village. Nowadays in the village there are more than a hundred artisan laboratories and a major art school specialized in ceramics.

In the morning we will visit the village and perform the traditional 'dish throwing' from the massive wall of the town.

Afterwards we'll stop at a majolica laboratory, to experience the various stages of ceramic processing. Then walking on an ancient path we'll reach the Art Institute. The walk is about 20 minutes and requires no special physical skills.

At noon it will be possible to have lunch in a local restaurant to taste the Castelli's gastronomy, full of flavor and imagination as its pottery palette.

In the afternoon we'll visit  the  Art Institute Museum, which holds important collections of historical and contemporary potters.

The last leg of the tour includes a visit to the Church of San Donato famous for its majolica ceiling who deserved  the nickname of "Sistine Chapel of majolica".

And to finish we'll go see two cheese producers and have a food tasting of two dairy delicacies of the Gran Sasso National Park Laga: The Farindola Pecorino and Canestrato of Castel del Monte (Slow Food).

These two cheese are the pride of Abruzzo's food tradition. They tell us stories about transhumance and especially about how they are made and what kind of grass and other greenery feed the sheep.