Pottery path

Celle Ligure joined the “Italian City of Ceramics Association” in 2019 - AiCC: the ceramic business in our city was already present in the eighteenth century, initially as a production of tableware necessary for daily use, then with majolica making ceramic products for of the wealthy classes.

The artistic heritage of Celle finds has been exhibited and enhanced for the first time on the occasion of the biennial ceramic event "Ceramica in Celle".

Celle Ligure is in fact an open-air art gallery and allows you to admire ceramic works by local and nationally renowned artists.

The route we propose starts from the old historical centre where a small art gallery with ceramics by Marcello Mannuzza, Leony Mordeglia and Carlo Sipsz has been set up in the underpass leading to the sea.

Continuing along via Boagno you will find the “Nostra Signora della Misericordia” retirement home, which guards a precious collection of majolica from the ancient Ligurian pharmacy of the 18th century, 35 blue and white ceramic vases. Alongside tradition, the chapel houses ceramic works (altar and Via Crucis) by Eliseo Salino, sculptor and ceramist from Albisola.

The Lungomare in Arte project was born on the splendid promenade by the sea of Celle Ligure: in 2012 the works of Valeria Bruno, Giacomo Lusso, Marcello Mannuzza, Leony Mordeglia, Caterina Ricci and Carlo Sipsz were inserted around Piazzetta Arecco and in 2014, on the Crocetta seafront, the works of Angelo Baghino, Renato Bonardi, Nivio Covelli, Roberto Gaiezza, Guido Garbarino, Rosanna La Spesa, Manuz, Aldo Pagliaro, Ylli Plaka, Carlo Pizzichini, Davide Secci.

In the Crocetta waterfront gardens you can see the Artists' Well: built in 1992, it collects valuable works by Bernazzoli, Covelli, Luzzati, Mannuzza, Piombino, Servettaz.

After this pleasant walk you reach the locality of Piani di Celle where the Church of Santa Maria Assunta stands out which its façade embellished with a high-relief by Lucio Fontana "The Assumption with St. Michael and the Dragon", in “terracotta”, therefore able to incorporate with immediacy the strength of the artist's gesture. In the sober interior, designed in light tones, a note of color, fable and poetry comes from the work of Emanuele Luzzati, author of the holy water fonts, the pulpit and the balustrade.

Leaving Piazza dei Piani, towards the east, you will find the Pertini seafront, with the artistic-educational path “Artists for mathematics”, inaugurated on 17 September 2011 within the “Celle city of mathematics” project, promoted by the municipal administration of Celle Ligure, on the proposal of the CelleLab Cultural Scientific Association.

The collection contains 32 mathematical-themed pottery works, created by the artists involved in the project, accompanied by a technical sheet that reports, in addition to the construction characteristics, also information about the mathematical subjects depicted.

The itinerary includes works by: Alberti, Bernasconi, Bertorelli, Bonardi, Bruzzone, Canepa, Covelli, Crescini, Gaiezza, Gaja, Garbarino, Giannoni, La Spesa, Lusso, Mannuzza, Marchetti, Minuto, Moiso, Mordeglia, Noceto, Pagliaro, Peluffo, Pizzichini, Plaka, Pobiati, Quattrini, Sellerio, Sipsz, Spelta, Tinti, Pumpkin, Zucchi.

In the historic center there are also two ceramic workshops: "IL TONDO" and "L’ARBANELLA" which preserve the tradition of handcrafted products made exclusively by hand but with the addition of important innovative techniques.

In Celle you can find different pottery workshops which preserve the tradition of handcrafted products made exclusively by hand but with the addition of important innovative techniques: