What is Faenza known for?

Tin-glazed maiolica that gave its name to the French and English word faïence, produced here continuously since the late fourteenth century. Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, the world's largest ceramics museum, named by UNESCO a Monument Witness to a Culture of Peace in 2000. Equestrian competition between the five city rioni, run every June on Piazza Nenni in costumes recalling the fifteenth century.

Faenza is a comune in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, about 18 kilometers from Forlì.

Emilia-Romagna · Ravenna

Faenza

The city that gave its name to faïence, with a tin-glazed maiolica tradition since the fourteenth century and the world ceramics museum since 1908.

18 km / 11 mi

Nearest hub (Forlì)

58,710

Population

Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Città della Ceramica

Why come

Faenza sitson the Via Emilia between Bologna and Rimini, on the Lamone river fifty kilometers southeast of Bologna. The city gave its name to faïence: tin-glazed earthenware that emerged here in the late fourteenth century and reached its peak in the early sixteenth, when the bianchi di Faenza, white-on-white ceramics exported across Europe, set the standard for Renaissance maiolica. The Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, founded in 1908 by Gaetano Ballardini, holds 15,000 square meters of collections from 4000 BC to the present, with rooms dedicated to Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, Léger, Dalí, Burri, and Fontana. UNESCO named it a Monument Witness to a Culture of Peace in 2000. The Cattedrale di San Pietro Apostolo, begun by Giuliano da Maiano in 1474, dominates Piazza della Libertà; Piazza del Popolo next door holds the medieval Palazzo del Podestà and the municipal palace. The Palio del Niballo, an equestrian competition between the five city rioni, runs every June.

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Gallery

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Known for

Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche
Founded in 1908 by Gaetano Ballardini, 15,000 square meters spanning 4000 BC to contemporary work by Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, and Fontana.
Cattedrale di San Pietro Apostolo
Renaissance cathedral begun by Giuliano da Maiano in 1474, completed by 1515, with sculptures by Benedetto da Maiano in the nave.
Piazza del Popolo
Twin medieval square to Piazza della Libertà, framed by the Palazzo del Podestà and the porticos of the municipal palace.
Piazza della Libertà
Cathedral square with the seventeenth-century fountain by Domenico Paganelli at its center, opposite the cathedral façade.
Palazzo Milzetti
Neoclassical palace begun in 1794, frescoed by Felice Giani, now the Museo Nazionale dell'Età Neoclassica in Romagna.
Teatro Masini
Late-eighteenth-century theater designed by Giuseppe Pistocchi, with a hand-painted curtain and a horseshoe auditorium of four tiers.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are the working months on the Romagna plain. Spring brings the Palio del Niballo at the end of June and clear water in the Lamone; autumn dries the fields gold and brings the ceramics fairs back to the centro. July and August touch thirty-six degrees with high humidity, and Piazza del Popolo empties between two and five. November to February sits under Po-valley fog, with the cathedral rising out of it on cold mornings. The Argillà ceramics biennale in early September and the Niballo in June are the calendar events that fill the city. Weekday stays in May and October give the MIC galleries and the twin piazzas room.