Giacomo Onestini's house-museum
Giacomo Onestini (1934-2003)
The decease of Giacomo Onestini, with the dismantling of his studio and kilns in the house in Cervia Terme, has caused Cervia itself to lose that character of a town of seaside ceramics, that few peole may know. What remains to be seen, by Onestini, is the beautiful residual collection of majolica that his heirs are now displaying reordered.
Giacomo Onestini, born in Faenza, loved Cervia so much that he lived there for more than forty years until his death.
After graduating as a master ceramist, Onestini moved to San Marino where he found employment at the "Marmaca" ceramics factory.
Around the end of the 1950s, he moved to Salerno and began working with the "Ernestine" ceramics factory, then, after a brief period of collaboration with the "Santi" ceramics factory, he moved to Turin where he devoted himself to teaching at the city's Art Institute.
Having abandoned teaching, he chose to deal directly with the public, first in a huge exhibition/garden, then in a gallery that became an indelible reference point for numerous Italian and European collectors.
More unique than rare, the artist travelled all the paths of the ceramic universe, from sculpture (later translated into bronzes) to decoration, reflections and moulding, which earned him the title of best in Europe in 1980.
To the signs of Scandinavia, Central Europe and the Far East he associated characteristics of our Mediterranean tradition such as lustres, the so-called impasti. In this he was incomparable, as in the persuasive suggestions of Gargano, of ancient sedimentations and geological upheavals.
His house-workshop, with many of his works, can now be visited thanks to his wife and son.
Where: Via Augusto Murri 7, Cervia Terme
Opening: annual
Entrance: free (Telephone booking preferred: 340-3400054 or 340-4233025)
Official Tourist Information Site of Cervia