02 Sep Moorish Heads – Sicilian Culture
Moorish Heads between history and legend
Sicily is a place full of myths, legends, and love. There are many real and fictional love stories associated with the island.
Sicily is also famous for its beautiful and colorful ceramics. If you walk around the city, one of the most popular examples is the beautiful Moorish heads. Especially when you look at balconies, you can also see that some of them are full of plants.
You will also see a lot of these heads for sale in ceramic shops. They show a fair-skinned woman and a man with obvious North African characteristics. This extravagant couple confuses most foreigners.
Have you seen these head-shaped ceramic vases in Sicily?
Many couples ask me what the significance is, and I tell them the legend behind these masterpieces. But how many people know the history of these pots?
The legend behind Sicilian Ceramic Heads
According to legend, these masterpieces were born from a love story that ended in tragedy.
The legend of the Moorish heads goes far back to the XI century, during the Mors’ domination in Sicily.
The original folk tale behind the ceramic heads comes from Palermo, though, within the district of Al Halisa (nowadays called La Kalsa), and tells of a Saracen merchant who falls in love with a pretty local girl.
This beautiful and honorable lass was tending to her garden like she did every day on the balcony of her house, when a Moro (Moro means Arabian man) merchant who was passing by, fell in love with the gorgeous girl who immediately returned his love.
They started having a love story until she learned that he would be leaving Sicily to return to his wife and kiddies in his native country. She went suddenly crazy with jealousy and one night, while he was sleeping she thought of how to stay by his side forever!
Appalled at the deception and insult to her virtue, she cut his head off.
But what now? What to do with it?
She decided to grow her beautiful basil plant (from Basilikos, the king plant) inside the head and she watered the plant with her tears for the remainder of her life.
Despite the terrible act, she continued to take care of her beloved as if he were her king. This is often why the heads are usually depicted wearing jeweled crowns.
People walking down her balcony began to admire her flourishing plant of basil and got envious of how bloomed her plants were so that they began imitating the shape, molding colorful clay pots in the shape of a head, hoping to obtain the same results, which inspired the art of Teste di Moro.
From legend to work of art
Today the Moor’s heads are real works of art, decorative and design objects.
Today you will find the Moor’s heads all over Sicily.
But the city of ceramics par excellence is Caltagirone, where everything here evokes this great art!
This town in central Sicily is world-famous for the centuries-old production of hand-painted pottery in bright colors. Today there are several varieties of ceramic heads and they’re reproduced in pairs.
The design of the heads, the lush decorations, and the color palette used made Moorish heads so popular that the fashion industry is using ceramics as decorations.
Luxury brands Dolce and Gabbana have created a complete collection of Moorish heads.
Moor’s heads modern furniture: design and luxury for your wedding.
The popularity of the Moorish heads has become an iconic symbol of Sicily, so they are now often used as accessories for weddings and events on the island, and you can see them anywhere.
Do you want to know how to insert traditional Sicilian elements in your wedding arrangement?
These pots are a must for years now for wedding decorations, wedding favors, and the setting up of the location.
These special pieces of art can decorate your wedding spaces and furnish them with exclusivity.
I thank Verus for the release of the images.
We’ll find you the ‘hidden gems’ for your destination wedding in Sicily. See how.