Moorish Head

Made and decorated entirely by hand.

Ceramiche Sofia of brothers Intonato Nicola and Intonato Giuseppe is a company from Caltagirone (Sicily, ITALY) that produces art majolica. The manufacturing processes that lead to the creation of our ceramics are divided into six important phases: turning, drying, first firing, enamelling, decoration and aging.
For each of these phases we dedicate the utmost care to every detail so that the final product is the result of a unique work, inimitable and unchanged over time.

See the processing phases of our ceramics

The History of the Beautiful Sicilian Girl and the Legend of the Moor Head
The city most famous for making these heads is Caltagirone, near Catania. The legend of their origin comes from Palermo, though, in the district of Al Halisa (nowadays called La Kalsa).

A young lady, so the story goes, loved cultivating flowers on her balcony. One day a Moor passed below and became infatuated with her, declaring his undying love so beautifully that she, in turn, fell in love with him.
The story took a sinister twist when she found out he was married with children! Appalled at the deception and insult to her virtue, she cut his head off. Now, what to do with it? She decided it would make a perfect plant pot.