History of Montelupo Ceramics

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, however, the ceramics activity in Montelupo is affected with a strong impetus by the conquest of Pisa (1406), which finally gives Florence access to the sea.

Finding themselves right in the vicinity of the Arno, the furnaces of Montelupo can in this way take advantage of a position which allows them to make rapid connections with the international market, minimizing the costs of transport. In fact the ceramics can now be loaded onto small barges suitable for navigating rivers (so-called “river boats”) which, traveling downstream, easily reach the loading docks (Pisa and then Livorno).

 

Attracted by this opportunity, the main cargo ship of Florence begins to favour, in the course of the fifteenth century, the ceramics workshops of Montelupo, encouraging their development and thereby creating the right conditions for the focus in this vicinity of clay-working activities already in existence in the surrounding areas (in particular in Bacchereto). There remains a significant trace of this phenomenon in the legal records with which Francesco degli Antinori was involved in the September of 1490, taking over for three years the whole production, with as many as 23 master potters active in Montelupo, rewarding them with an agreed sum.