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In Praiano Ceramics Meet Music

Alfonso & Ventura Milano with Wynton Marsalis in the name of jazz

By Ventura Milano


Since my brother Alfonso and I opened the pottery workshop Lizart, in Praiano, in the heart of the Amalfi Coast, our mission has been to combine the local ceramic tradition with that those of the rest of  Italy.

Therefore, while keeping alive the ancient tradition of Vietri by combining old techniques with the modern decor of vivid colors and brilliant glazes, we also like to explore the art and culture of other parts of our country and for that we are always in search of new plates, lava stone tables, pitchers or majolica panels.

Our creations and products are now in every continent of the world and in a sense, with imagination and through the tales of our customers, it is as if there is a piece of us everywhere.

Sometimes, however, we happen to actually travel with our art. In our latest trip we imported a piece of Praiano to the heart of New York City, landing at “Jazz at Lincoln Center”, where our two passions -ceramics and music, in particular jazz - merged into a single project: a new ceramic top for the counters at “Dizzy's Club Coca Cola”. 

Ventura (painting) with Alfonso and la mamma

The project was facilitated by Dr. Alfonso Costa who, having acquired a beautiful villa in Praiano, bought many of our ceramic pieces and got to know us. We discovered that we shared the same love for art, music and food, and over time he became a great friend. We also got to know many of his acquientances, including Wynton Marsalis.

One day, while we were visiting Dr. Costa in New York, Wynton invited us to one of the rehearsals of his great orchestra. After that, while talking about our ceramic work, he came up with idea of adding a handmade ceramic top to Dizzy’s Club’s bar.

Once back in Italy, we started to work in our lab in our store in Praiano. We tried to express our love for jazz by creating images and figures that gave our own “cubist” visual history of the genre.

Alfonso Costa, who followed our work from the beginning, decided to become the sponsor and donated the top to Dizzy’s Club.

We are certainly happy with the work, but we are even more proud to have been able to make a personal contribution to Jazz at Lincoln Center’s mission, which is “to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for Jazz”. After New York, the next destination is Moscow. Our next job will lead us to a Spa in the Russian capital, where we will decorate a number of rooms with our own unique handmade ceramics. We are very excited. 

Watch the Video of Lizart at the Dizzy's Club

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Amalfi Coasting is a “pet project” of a community organization started in the town of Praiano in 2013. We developed this web site as a tool to invite people from all over the world to get to know our town, discover its "secrets" and embrace it not just as a great tourist destination but also as a community, with its people, its traditions and all of its offerings.

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