Giuliana Ferranti can certainly be considered one of the most representative heirs of those ceramists. When she was nine, she began working at the “Ceramiche La Porziuncola di Martinelli e Vaccai”. She lived that experience in a special atmosphere together with her masters and her mates with cheerfulness and a great desire to learn.
The type of processing until 1965 was a first fire pottery: graffiti, landscape painting, gifts and fancy goods. Besides decoration, they made – by throwing, slush moulding and compression moulding – plates, amphoras, cups, crucifixes, miniatures of the Portiuncula and costume jewellery, well sold in the USA at that time.

1965 – Martinelli and Vaccai separated and she continued her path with her brother-in-law Giuliano Vaccai (G. Vaccai Potteries). He had a good intuition and was able to specialize in innovative techniques, even spreading the Franciscan message, so rooted in the territory. That can be considered the most important period, as Giuliano attended to the making of new drawings and to the testing of new processing techniques: manual serigraphy and third fire painting. The production included: The Canticle of the Creatures, reproduction of icons, landscape painting, tiles representing St Francis, St Clare etc., Annunciation, parchments, wooden St Damian Crucifix with Florence “golden leaf”, hand gouged wooden frames. Thanks to those projects Giuliano gave a personal mark to the local craftwork, standing out from the Umbrian classical handcraft, creating a market niche that aimed on high quality and originality since the beginning.

1976 – Giuliano Vaccai unexpectedly died. His wife Elisabetta decided to keep on her husband’s activity, so that was the circumstance in which Giuliana had to recall everything she had learned from him. With her best will and self-sacrifice, Elisabetta and Giuliana succeeded in giving continuity to the original planning that has been given by the “Master”.

1994 – Elisabetta retired and Giuliana – having spent all her life on that activity with love and devotion – had her sister’s consent to take over the activity naming it “ Fe.Ba Ceramiche” s.n.c. by Ferranti Giuliana & C”, together with her husband Giordano and their daughters’ support. Her husband’s cooperation has been very important, in fact, as a surveyor and a carpenter’s son, he attended with competence and talent to the enrichment of wood working and frames, completely hand made. Thanks to that cooperation Giuliana was able to achieve a dream, modestly devoting herself to the reproduction of some of the most significant works of art in the area: “ Miracolo dell’acqua”, “Predica agli uccelli”, “Natività” all belonging to the Giotto series, “Annunciazione” by Ilario from Viterbo, some of Perugino’s works and other reproductions made on wooden board with oil paints.

2003 – The family concern has been taken over by Giuliana’s daughters and became “Fe.Ba Ceramiche s.a.s. di Bartolucci Marta, Chiara & C.”. This could happen because they both experienced the reality of the laboratory since they were very young and after finishing school they gradually came to the decision of taking up this craft that fascinates them so much and gives them the chance to express their creativity.

Us, the daughters...
Aware of the patience and obstinacy needed to fully learn this craft, we hope to give continuity and growth to this job, although it’s becoming very rare, because we love it and we want to valorise it, while we keep up a tradition.