Pottery and Ceramics in the Var

The art of pottery-making was born in the Mediterranean basin 8,000 years ago, during the Neolithic age, at the same time as agriculture, farming and weaving. The pottery produced at the time was mostly utilitarian, but it was also used during rituals (offerings to the deceased). Amphoras were manufactured in Fréjus during the Gallo-Roman period and exported throughout the Mediterranean. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Fréjus was still a major pottery producer and the biggest supplier of crockery for Marseille! The ceramics industry really took off in the Var in the 17th century. It reached its height in the 19th century and continued until the mid 20th century. During that period, various villages from the central and upper areas of the Var - Brue-Auriac, Saint-Zacharie, Villecroze, Barjols, Varages, Salernes and many others – became extremely specialized in the industrial and artisanal production of high-quality ceramic tiles and earthenware crockery, whose quality rivalled that of their Italian counterparts. Today, the Var villages of Salernes and Varages continue to produce some of the world's finest ceramics, including Provence's famous red, hexagonal floor tile called the "tommette", thanks to an abundant water supply, the presence of pure and refined natural clay and vast forests used to stoke their wood-fired furnaces.