A terracotta mask is not a souvenir. It belongs to an ancient tradition – the apotropaic masks of southern Italy: objects made to protect, to ward off evil, to hang by the front door with a precise meaning.
 
In Calabria they have been used for centuries. Masks of the sun, the moon, the winds, the goddesses: forms tied to the earth, the sky and the seasons. They weren't decoration: they were a presence. Having one on the door or the wall meant something, both to those who looked at it and to those who hung it.
 
Each one is handmade by Maurizio in his workshop in Altomonte. The clay is worked by hand and the decoration painted before firing. No two masks are identical: the same shape, the same hands, but every piece bears the mark of its moment.
 
Hang it on the wall, by the door or in the kitchen. Or give it to someone you want to protect.
 
An ancient object, still alive. Carrying a story longer than ours.