Bitossi

A short history

Montelupo Fiorentino, just west of Florence, has been a pottery town for centuries, and the Bitossi family had been making ceramics there for generations when Guido Bitossi founded his own workshop in 1921.

The modern Bitossi took shape after World War II. Guido's sons brought in Aldo Londi, a Montelupo ceramist who had apprenticed since childhood, as artistic director in 1946. He led the studio for more than fifty years and gave it the bold glazes, stamped patterns and playful animal figures that collectors now hunt for.

In the mid-1950s Londi also brought the architect Ettore Sottsass to Bitossi, starting one of the best-known collaborations in Italian design. Bitossi Ceramiche is still family-run in Montelupo, keeps a company archive museum, and continues to work with outside designers alongside its historic lines.

The lines we see most

• Rimini Blu — Londi's signature: deep electric blue over pressed and incised geometric patterns, produced from the mid-1950s. Vases, bottles, ashtrays and lamps. Also found in green and red variants.
• Seta and sgraffito — patterns scratched through the glaze to the clay beneath, often with gold or turquoise.
• Soraya and Thai Silk — two more Londi glaze lines in blues and greens that turn up often in our finds.
• Liberty and Piume — the yellow birds and feather-pattern pieces in bright multicolor glazes.
• Flavia animals — Londi's lions, cats and other animals, sometimes left unglazed to show the stamped clay.

Identifying Bitossi

• Marks. Many pieces are marked only "Italy" by hand, often with a model or shape number. Some have no mark at all.
• Importer labels. In the U.S., Bitossi was sold through importers including Raymor and Rosenthal Netter, and their paper labels are a strong clue when they survive.
• Clay and glaze. Look for a reddish-buff earthenware body at the foot, thick glossy glaze, and pattern work that was stamped or carved by hand rather than printed.
• Reproductions. Rimini Blu is still produced, so we note whether a piece is vintage or a later production run when we can tell.

Further reading

• Bitossi Ceramiche — the official site and archive museum
• Bitossi on Pamono — a short company history with Aldo Londi and Rimini Blu