Castelli

Maiolica made this village famous: from the 16th century, potter dynasties such as the Grue and the Gentili produced painted ceramics collected by Europe's nobility, and local artists still work the clay today. The houses sit beneath the north-east face of Monte Camicia, inside the Gran Sasso national park. Carlo Levi called the church of San Donato the 'Sistine Chapel of maiolica' for its tiled ceiling.

Highlights

• San Donato's ceiling of early 17th-century maiolica tiles, about 800 surviving
• The ceramics museum, which keeps broken tiles from San Donato
• Ceramics shops and workshops all through the village
• San Giovanni Battista, with altar frames of maiolica by Ferdinando Grue
• The road via Rigopiano and Vado di Sole up to Campo Imperatore

Summary based on Wikipedia and Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA), written with AI assistance.