Who is The Course Right For?

This course is right for you if:

• You love ceramics but you've never really tried before.
• You've tried other techniques but have never dared trying wheel-throwing.
• You’ve tried wheel throwing before but have never learned to centre independently, or struggle to centre clay in general.
• You've tried the wheel before but you've never given yourself a chance to really practise and learn, and you simply want a chance to spend a whole week practising on the wheel without worrying about anything else.

Experience Sicily

During this week, you won’t just get a ceramics course. We’ve also organised a program of activity so that you can connect with Sicilian culture, get to know beautiful Salemi and its rich history and territory. 

You will:

• Eat breakfast as the locals do in our favourite local bars
• Enjoy meals in a variety of authentic, local Sicilian restaurants / home-restaurants
• Carry out at least one excursion to a local cultural heritage site, either Cretto di Burri or Segesta Archeological site 

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The Project

The Salemi School of Ceramics is a social enterprise that has been opened to create a learning centre for contemporary ceramics, the first of its kind in Sicily.

The School has been created in partnership with the local town of Salemi, which has provided the gorgeous space - the Chiostro Di Sant’Agostino - that will be used for the school.

Salemi has a gorgeous historical centre and because it is quiet and peaceful, it is the perfect place for a mindful ceramics retreat.

What's Included

• Ceramics classes and mentorship by established ceramicists
• All materials
• Palermo Airport pick-up (12 noon Sunday) or Palermo City Pick Up (11am Sunday). There is an additional charge for any pick ups at other times
• Return Palermo Airport transfer and Palermo City drop off on Saturday, departing Salemi at 7am
• 2 x Yoga and 2 x meditation classes
• All meals and non-alcoholic beverages from Sunday dinner through to Saturday breakfast
• Glazing and firing a max of 3kg of pieces (this will be done after the retreat has finished)

What's Not Included

• Accommodation
• Shipping of pieces that will be fired by the studio
• Additional cost for firing/glazing more than 3kg of pieces (it’s 20€/kg for each extra kg of clay)
• Alcoholic beverages

A Typical Day

Classes will be held from Monday through to Friday. On Sunday, there will be a welcome dinner and on Saturday, we will bid you farewell. Classes will be 4h each morning.

(9am-1pm) and 2/3h each afternoon (2-5pm), except one afternoon of cultural activities when you will spend approximately 2 hours in the studio in the morning and 2 hours in the studio in the afternoon.

Order of the day:

• Yoga or meditation (2 classes x week)
• Breakfast
• First Class 9am-10.30am
• Break
• Second Class 11am-1pm
• Lunch
• Third Class 2pm-5pm
• Finish

Our Teachers

We have different visiting teachers every month, chosen amongst the most brilliant Italian and European ceramicists and ceramics instructors.

To see which teacher will lead our upcoming beginners course and learn more about them, go to View all programs and click on the teacher’s name.

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(📷 by Sabela Andrés @sabelaandres)