Bizzirri Italian Ceramics You Will Love

Beautiful Italian Tableware from Northern Umbria

 

It took me a few years after we bought our house in Sansepolcro to discover that 15 minutes down the road there was a well-known Italian house of ceramics.  Bizzirri makes beautiful tableware, houseware and garden furnishings. It’s a family-run business that launched in 1954. Bizzirri’s product is very different from the Italian ceramics you see produced in places like Deruta. A Bizzirri plate has a simpler design.  It’s more rustic-looking but also no less beautiful.

[Attention Bizzirri Lovers:  After you view this post, see the photos from my lastest visit to the Bizzirri showroom in April 2016 by clicking here.]

 

Bizzirri has made tableware for American companies such as Neiman Marcus, Horchow and Sur la Table.  You can also sometimes find a Bizzirri item at HomeGoods and, I understand, there was once a line sold at Target.  I also understand it sold quickly. The showroom is located just off the E45 autostrada south of Sansepolcro.  The official address of the factory/showroom is Citta di Castello. But it’s really located just north of Citta in a quiet industrial park on Via G. Pastore in a small suburb called Cerbara:  Bizzirri.  This is northern Umbria just south of the Tuscan line.

I’ve often gone browsing in the showroom, the elegant one up front and the factory showroom in back. I really agree the company succeeds in its aim: combining the traditional with the modern.  Finally this summer I took the plunge and ordered a set of dishes.  I liked the very pretty pattern you see below but the set I use here at home in the U.S. also has a fruit pattern.  So…I’m really fruited out.

My husband and I settled on the set you see below. Yellow and aqua that the pictures don’t do justice to. This pattern is unlike anything I’ve ever had.  I know the bowl shape is very odd-looking but it can easily hold soup, salad or pasta. My daughter says the bowl looks like it’s been “overcooked.”  That may be but these dishes can go in the dishwasher or the microwave.  My dishes are made to order and I was told they’d be shipped in about 60 days. They’re being made as I type this. I expect them in early fall.  The lovely and very patient Mariella waited on us  and also arranged for the shipping with DHL.

I have no stock in this company, no vested interest in promoting Bizzirri except that I love their gorgeous products. I paid retail and only got a discount because of volume. Once a few years ago though, the owner gave me one of those long olive dishes because I brought in a friend who bought a set of dishes. That was my freebie.

Here’s another pattern I photographed.  Notice the gravy boat…probably for the foreign market as I’ve never seen a gravy boat on a dinner table in Italy. I think this may have been part of a holiday pattern.

Below you see a more informal pattern in beautiful colors.

When you visit you can browse the thousands of pieces for sale in the warehouse.  There are some great buys here.  You can just buy a big stack of their dinner plates and walk away.

Below you see a beautiful pattern with a matching soup tureen.  Bizzirri is, understandably, a popular place for wedding registrations.

 

Bizzirri also sells ceramic home accessories.  I see you’re still with me so far.

Below you see a touch of Bizzirri whimsy.  I just love their stuff!