Giacomo Iudici

Patron Saint of Palermo.

Those who love popular ceramics, and in general the artisan traditions of the Sicilian land, owe a big debt to Maestro Mario Iudici Since the 1960s, this ceramist from Caltagirone has dedicated himself body and soul to the rediscovery of a popular production, which was in danger of gradually disappearing. It was a courageous choice: at that time, the process of revaluation of popular art by scholars and collectors had not yet begun and dedicating oneself to traditional ceramics risked being a commercially bankruptcy operation. a large part to Maestro Iudici and his love for traditions, if popular tools, once very common in the Sicilian countryside and villages, were not prematurely relegated to museum showcases only, and if up to now there has instead been a production continuity. The Master has continued to create, for enthusiasts and collectors, the objects of the Calatina tradition: anthropomorphic oil lamps, saimere to preserve pork suet; quartire to fill the water at the public fountain and bùmmoli to keep it fresh; u scutiddaru to do the laundry; muds - large dishes for drying tomato extract in the sun; cylindrical burmias of various sizes to preserve various foods; the tablets of madonnas and saints to be affixed to the bedside to protect those who slept there, and so on. But Iudici is also a refined ceramist, capable of creating objects which, while drawing on iconography and motifs from the past, have the characteristics of unique piece and artistic ceramics.

To rediscover this charm and this unique character, Giacomo Iudici – direct heir to the family tradition – created the modeled clay whistles 
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extracted and purified by hand, depicting Saints and Patrons. On the whistles it is possible to admire the thousand nuances that the handcrafted clay possesses: 

characteristics that make these pieces special and bring them closer to the ancient production traditions of the Calatini potters