It was, however,
thanks to the talent and commitment of the illustrious personages who worked in and around Deruta in, this first half of the twentieth century that the will to revive the Umbrian towns great artistic tradition succeeded, in some way in becoming a concrete reality. Angelo Micheletti was the first to work to this end. He arrived in Deruta in about 1880 to practice as a doctor but was only to begin his artistic activity some twenty years later. A great art enthusiast, he was actively commit ted" to getting underway the process of reviving a cultural and historical identity which he saw in Deruta had now been compromised. He became the interpreter of a design and of aspirations which went beyond individual sentiment.
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He made himself promoter of the Deruta question which, according to his intentions, should have included three stages: the re-acquisition of technical skills in the field of ceramic painting and decorating; the encouragement of artisan manufacturers to take an economic initiative; the promotion of historical and cultural research linked to the creation of the ceramics museum, which was actually set up in about 1900. Devised by Francesco Briganti of Deruta, one of the most significant figures in Umbrian twentieth century culture, the museum was founded with the aim of serving the artists of Deruta, the history of art and the honor of Deruta, the illustrious home of majolica. Through a publicity campaign aimed at obtaining donations, repository pieces and archaeological finds, a first nucleus of works comprising 214 objects was accumulated. Micheletti himself was nominated curator of the museum and was entrusted by the Town Council with compiling the general catalogue of all the objects contained
in the Museo Artistico pei lavoranti in maiolica. On his death, this task was undertaken by Francesco Briganti and subsequently by Alpinolo Magnini, but notwithstanding the continued interest in the museum, it was only in the 1940s that initiatives aimed at acquisition, cataloguing and research were promoted once more. The time was not yet ripe for the achievement of the second goal, which aimed at the economic involvement of the Deruta maiolica makers in this phase of artistic-cultural renaissance. In fact, despite the great stir made by the first artistic attempts carried out by Micheletti himself, who, as well as being engaged with some success in the first lustre experiments, had undertaken personal reworking of Renaissance subjects, the Deruta artisans lacked the awareness and maturity to acknowledge fully the importance of a commitment in this direction. Micheletti himself in those years wrote as follows: ". ..the new life proved languid and difficult through the fault of inertia, and the traditional mutual envy and jealousy inherent in the potters' craft which forces them into ruinous competition.
The initiatives aimed at the re-acquisition of technical skills in the field of ceramic painting and decoration met with greater success. In 1903, with the intention of retraining a new generation of painters and decorators, and thanks to the collaboration of interested entrepreneurs, persons of culture and young t1Jlents who, together with Micheletti, worked to this end, the "Communal School of Design" was set up and got underway under the direction of Alfredo santarelli29, one of the greatest exponents of the twentieth century ceramics of Gualdo Tadino. At this school, the training of craftsmen was aimed primarily at the revival of antique and traditional types and the imitation of Renaissance models. A revivalist production of display plates, love trophies and plaques with a sacred subject dates back to the early years of the 20th century. Conspicuous among the authors are the ceramists E. Pignatelli, Desiderio Visoni and, above all, Professor Alpinolo Magnini, who, assisted by Uboldo Grazio, dedicated himself to a refined production of lusterware.
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In this transformation phase of Deruta ceramics, on the one hand reaching out towards a revival of the antique tradition and on the other hand seizing at any sign of renewal in taste and culture, emerges the decisive figure of Alpinolo Magnini. Born in 1887 to an important Deruta family at the end of the century he followed the courses in applied art run by the /industrial Artistic Museum" in Rome. His first works include the project for the ceramic altar frontal in the church of San Francesco in Deruta, whose creation involved the collaboration, apart from that of Magnini, who elaborated the sketch, of Micheletti, who executed it and, indirectly also that of Briganti, son of Prior Carlo who commissioned the work. This was the beginning of the association between the three, and the frontal, as Micheletti himself recalls in an autobiographical document, was raised as a symbol of the new Deruta renaissance.
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Having finished his studies in 19011 Magnini seems to have directed his energies towards the search for new artistic expressions in ceramics. A subject very dear to him from the outset is the portrait, which is developed in different styles in successive periods, as demonstrated by two very elegant plates in the Art Nouveau style with female faces, and the series of portraits of Famous personages which he painted in Loveno between 1903 and 1907, exhibited today in the regional Museum. His teaching post at the "School of Industrial Design" in Loveno, allowed him to broaden his study and critical reading of the history of ceramics and permitted him to focus his ideas on a production which was both modern and yet at the same time anchored to the traditions and to the culture of the past. On his return to Deruta in 1907, he was entrusted both with the direction of the Communal School of Design, and with the position of curator of the Communal Museum. Three years later in 1910, he became technical and artistic director of the "Societa Anonima Maioliche Deruta. This is the period which sees the foundation of those factories which were to mark Deruta's artistic and economic history in the 20th century.