A terracotta mask isn't a souvenir. It belongs to an ancient tradition, that of the South's apotropaic masks: objects made to protect, to keep harm away, to stand at the door of a home with real meaning.
 

 
In Calabria they've been used for centuries. Masks of the sun, the moon, the winds, the goddesses: shapes tied to the earth, the sky, the seasons. They weren't decoration. They were presence. Having one on the door or on the wall meant something, both to those who looked at it and to those who placed it there.
 

 
Each one is made by hand by Maurizio in his workshop in Altomonte. The clay is worked by hand, the decoration painted before firing. No two masks are alike: the same shape, the same hands, but every piece carries the mark of that moment.
 

 
Hang it on the wall, on the door, in the kitchen. Or give it to someone you want to protect.
 

 
An ancient object, still alive. One that carries with it a story longer than our own.