Le terrecotte di Montopoli in Val d’Arno nel Novecento: la produzione per una élite, la vita di una comunità del Basso Valdarno

In the medieval as well as in modern times, Montopoli in Val d’Arno (Pisa) has been a centre of production of bricks and slipped pottery. The tradition was almost extinguished when, in the second decade of the 20th century, Dante Milani opened a new factory for the production of ceramics. Drawing on traditional styles as well as new artistic influences come to him by the painter Silvio Bicchi and by Dante’s brother Guido, a professor of ornate, in the period between the Two Wars Milani found the formula of a decorated terracotta that had some success. Referring to the technology of incised slipped ware rooted in this part of Tuscany, but also to the morphological and decorative repertoire of other cultures, he was able to create a pottery that on one hand drew liberally from the local tradition and on the other was renewed with an eclectic mingling. This combination led to the development of a ceramic of a strong visual impact for the Italian, European and American upper middle class, who wished to adorn their houses with original furnishing with an antique flavour. After the Second World War instead a little more simple style prevailed, thus allowing the purchase of pottery to petit bourgeois families. Other interesting aspects concern the relationship that Dante Milani managed to establish with their employees and the work of aesthetic acculturation accomplished by his brother Guido with the workers. These facts then turned themselves into a strong attachment to that kind of work by those people in Montopoli who were employed in the field of pottery, a sentiment which is still strong in the local community.