Over the last two Saturdays, Betty, the ceramicist, invited me to join her basic pottery course. During this period, my schedule at the winery was a bit different because we were closed between seasons. We reopened on March 6th, so it was a quieter time at the winery.

I was very excited about the invitation because I had been looking for something creative to do in Catania and hoped to meet new people through the class.

In the first session, there were eight participants in total, and everyone was welcomed with a drink. Four of us were foreigners, including me, and the other four were locals. The class was usually conducted in Italian, since everyone understood it, but Betty sometimes explained things in English as well.

One pair in the group was a mother and daughter, and it was lovely to see a family coming together to do something creative. Betty also prepared tea and coffee, which created a warm and relaxed atmosphere.

We were sitting inside the Palmento, facing a beautiful window. The weather was wonderful, and we could see the bright sky as we learned pottery. The space felt perfect for creativity. The colours and textures of the walls made the room inspiring and peaceful, an ideal place to start working with clay. 

By the end of the class, each of us had created a small mug using the techniques we had learned. I decorated my mug with plant stamps and made a handle shaped to fit my grip. I also designed the mug’s edge like a star, with soft, wavy lines.

I realised that I did not care too much about how the final object would look. Instead, I enjoyed each moment of touching and shaping the clay. It felt like a full sensory experience inside our beautiful Palmento.

Taking the class truly sparked something inside me. At the end of the session, it was beautiful to see eight completely different mugs lined up on the table. Seeing everyone’s creativity made me even more excited for our individual project in the following week.