58th International Ceramics Conference – 20th and 21st June 2025

58TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CERAMICS, 20-21 JUNE 2025

‘MARITIME AND LAND TRADE: THE ROUTES OF CERAMICS’

SAVONA, PRIAMÀR MONUMENTAL COMPLEX (CIVIC ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND CITY MUSEUM)

The conference will focus on maritime and land trade and the routes of ceramics.
The conference sessions will include oral presentations (lasting a maximum of 20 minutes) and written contributions (posters).
The conference coordinator is Prof. Marco Milanese, full professor of Archaeology at the University of Sassari. There will also be a round table discussion on this topic, coordinated by Prof. Fabrizio Benente, full professor of Christian, Late Antique and Medieval Archaeology at the University of Genoa.
There will also be two conference sessions on

• Ligurian ceramics in the Middle Ages and modern times
• New data on ceramic production: regional summaries, studies and research (replacing the
  traditional “Free topic”).

Laggioni: from Ligurian tradition to Carlo Pizzichini’s artistic reinterpretation

Laggioni, the famous painted ceramic tiles that decorate façades, interiors and sacred furnishings throughout Liguria – and in particular in the Savona area – are one of the most fascinating expressions of Mediterranean ceramic art. With their vibrant colours, geometric shapes and floral or religious motifs, they tell stories of popular devotion, decorative taste and craftsmanship handed down over the centuries.
Starting from this ancient tradition, artist Carlo Pizzichini now offers his own interpretation of laggioni, breathing new life into a visual language that belongs to the collective memory of Liguria. His square white ceramic tiles, measuring 20×20 cm, are deliberately minimalist and abstract, distinguished by a soft, delicate, almost intangible palette, like a watercolour fixed on the glazed surface. The marks that cross them do not seek figurative narration, but rather evoke atmospheres, rhythms and silences, establishing an intimate dialogue with the viewer, where the paths of the soul find the emptiness and fullness of the painted marks, becoming a memory of the ancient paths of ceramics.
This contemporary reinterpretation, far from ornamental redundancy but deeply respectful of the original material and spirit, does not seek to replace tradition: it accompanies it, listens to it, transforms it. At a time when ceramics often risk becoming mere consumer objects, Pizzichini’s intervention restores the laggione’s poetic and meditative function.

The artist wanted to donate this collection of 50 works to the Ligurian Centre for the History of Ceramics, which is committed to the study and promotion of ceramics in the region and beyond. The works, all unique, signed by the author and created at the “Il Tondo” artisan workshop in Celle Ligure, will be sold for €50.00 each. The proceeds will be donated entirely to support the Centre’s activities, with the aim of promoting Ligurian ceramic culture and raising awareness among new generations of the beauty of a tradition that continues to live on through contemporary art.
A gesture of generosity, but also of profound consistency: Carlo Pizzichini’s laggioni are not only aesthetic objects, but bridges between past and present, between craftsmanship and art, between memory and future.