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ITALIAN DESIGN & CRAFT
The Vicenza Ceramic Festiva
An annual festival of workshops, open factories, exhibitions and experimental firings
For one weekend each year, one of Vicenza’s historic ceramics towns opens its museum, factories, workshops, courtyards and private spaces to visitors. The 2026 edition brought together more than 120 artists and artisans, 105 exhibitors and over 52 exhibitions, workshops and events across 29 locations, from the potter’s wheel and experimental wood firings to Japanese Urushi Kintsugi.
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Know before you go
The festival spreads across the town, with different opening hours, bookings and fees for individual activities. Check the current programme and map before travelling. Getting around The 2026 festival offered free bicycle hire from the Infopoint Contact info@festadellaceramica.it Official information festadellaceramica.it
ONE WEEKEND, A WHOLE CERAMICS TOWN
For one weekend each September, the Festa della Ceramica di Nove e Portoni Aperti takes over Nove, one of the historic ceramics centres of the province of Vicenza. The festival moves through streets, workshops, factories, courtyards, historic buildings and the ceramics museum, combining a large makers market with demonstrations, exhibitions, firings and practical workshops.
The 2026 edition brought more than 120 artists and artisans to Nove, with 105 exhibitors and more than 52 exhibitions, workshops and events across 29 locations. Some activities happened in the main square, others behind doors that are normally closed to visitors.
START IN PIAZZA DE FABRIS
Piazza De Fabris is one of the natural starting points. During the 2026 festival, ceramicists worked at the potter’s wheel in the square, making vessels from raw clay and inviting visitors to follow the process at close range. The demonstrations were free and required no booking.
The ceramics market spreads through the centre, bringing together artists and artisans from Italy and abroad. In 2026 there were 105 exhibitors, alongside live sculpture, ceramic painting and specialist workshops.
This is also where the scale of Nove’s relationship with ceramics becomes obvious. Production here developed over centuries, and eighteenth century Nove became an important centre for ceramics within the Republic of Venice. Workshops and manufacturers still work in and around the town today.
FOLLOW THE FIRE TO PALAZZO BACCIN
At Palazzo Baccin, the festival moves from finished ceramics to the firing itself. Experimental wood kilns are operated in the brolo, the historic orchard and garden behind the palazzo, allowing visitors to watch one of the most dramatic parts of ceramic production in public.
In 2026 the programme also included a workshop devoted to traditional Japanese Kintsugi using Urushi lacquer from Japan and metallic pigments, without chemical glues. Participants worked on the final gilding stage of a prepared ceramic object and took the finished piece home. The accompanying seminar explained how Urushi is collected and used, and how the traditional repair technique developed in Japan.
PORTONI APERTI, THE DOORS REALLY DO OPEN
The second half of the festival name matters. Portoni Aperti means “open doors”, and during the weekend the event spreads beyond the market into ceramics workshops, private spaces, historic buildings and working factories across Nove.
In 2026, 29 locations were involved. For a visitor, this is what makes the festival different from a conventional craft fair: ceramics are encountered inside the places where they are studied, made, fired, collected and sold.
THE 999 BOWLS
One of the festival traditions is Il Cuore di Nove, a series of 999 numbered ceramic bowls made and decorated by local ceramicists and members of the community. During the 2026 edition they were sold for charity and then used for risotto served during the festival.
It is a small object with a very local biography, made in Nove, decorated in Nove and used during the weekend before leaving with its new owner.
END AT THE CERAMICS MUSEUM
The Museo Civico della Ceramica gives the weekend its historical context. Housed in the former ceramics art school, the museum follows production in Nove from the eighteenth century through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to contemporary ceramics.