C.a.s Vietri Biography
The "CAS" (Solimene Artistic Ceramics) ceramic factory in Vietri Marina, located in the province of Salerno, was founded in 1937 by Vincenzo Solimene. After a short period, the production, which consisted of furnishing objects such as floor tiles, coverings and Vietri style majolica, was interrupted due to the war events. Towards the end of the 1940s, Vincenzo Solimene, together with his sons Antonio, Francesco and Vincenzino, purchased a large piece of land on Via Madonna degli Angeli in Vietri. Based on a project by the architect Paolo Soleri, in 1951, construction began on a new and larger factory, equipped with an impressive wood-fired oven. In 1956, the activity finally began in the new factory, adopting the name "Ceramiche Artistiche Solimene", and in 1969 the vast complex of the former "Vetreria Meridionale Ricciardi" was acquired. In the 1980s and 1990s, some ceramics were produced from the factory's kilns based on a design by the architect Ugo La Pietra. At the beginning of the nineties, Vincenzo Solimene, together with his children Giovanna, Antonio and Francesco, acquired an old factory near Bonea and, two years later, the "Ceramics Workshop-School Center for Vietri Art Study" was created. The top floor of the factory houses a museum space which houses, in addition to the works of family members, the artistic creations of those who have collaborated with the factory over the years. The factory closed in 2005.
