Caltagirone

       The city's name derives from the Arabic "qal'at-al-jarar" ("Castle of [pottery] jars") - a name that attests to the antiquity of the pottery works which are still thriving.

  The main landmark of the city is the 142-step monumental Staircase of Santa Maria del Monte, built from 1608 in the old part of the town. The peculiarity is that each step is decorated with different hand-decorated ceramics, using styles and figures derived from the millennial tradition of pottery making. Once a year, on and around the day of the city's patron saint, (St. James, 25 July), the staircase is illuminated with candles of different colours arranged in order to reconstruct an artistic drawing of several tens of meters.

  The Taking of the Bell of Altavilla to Caltagirone, polychrome maiolica mosaic in the square of Santa Maria del Monte, atop the decorated staircase.

The city has been long famous for the production of pottery, particularly maiolica and terra-cotta wares. Nowadays the production is more and more oriented to artistic production of ceramics and terra-cotta sculptures.