Santo Stefano di Camastra is Sicily's other traditional ceramics center, less known than the more famous city of ceramics, Caltagirone.
Being rather remote, Caltagirone is worth a stopover if you're passing through the area, but Santo Stefano is more conveniently situated off a main road between Palermo and Messina, and even has a beach.
The ceramics center is a small town where artisans' shops line its only road. Vases, plates of all colors, and amphoras are made by the artists in the back of their shops and sold on the street.
In Santo Stefano di Camastra, Arab influence is found in gastronomic traditions, in agricultural methods, in place names, in street markets, in dialect words, along with many traces in architecture, art and culture.
Among its major buildings, a special mention goes to Palazzo Sergio, once the Duke’s Palace, now accomodating the Museo della Ceramica. Pride of place in the museum, is given to Lorenzini’s Andare on the right of the entrance, depicting a group of warriors gradually sinking into the ground. Several rooms in the building have conserved their original tiled floors, frescoed ceilings and 1700’s furnishings.
Ceramica F.lli Piscitello
Via Nazionale, 106/108
98148 Santo Stefano Di Camastra (ME)
cell: 199.733750
f. +(0921).337000
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