A manufacture of coarse glazed pottery rudely ornamented with figures, flowers, fruit, &c. in colour, still exists in the Trastevere, which supplies the _contadini_ and the humbler classes of the city with pots and pans of various form and startling decoration. CHAPTER XV. FAENZA. That long and rather monotonous old post road the Via Æmilia (now run sidelong by the rail) which forms almost a straight line from Piacenza to Ancona, through one of the richest countries in the world, after passing the fine cities of Parma, Reggio, Modena, and Bologna, reaches Faenza and Forlì, important and early centres of the potter’s art. Faenza is a small dull town on the site of the Roman _Faventia_, and of the antiquity of the ceramic industry at this site there can be no doubt, although perhaps Pesaro, Caffaggiolo, and Castel Durante may have nearly equal claims in that respect. Of its extent and importance there is equal certainty, and there is moreover great reason to believe that the French word _faïence_ applied to this class of pottery was derived from the name of the place; although there is another claimant in the small town, under the Estrelle mountains, a short way from Cannes and Grasse, called by the very name, Faiance (_Faventia_), and now _chef-lieu_ of a canton in Draguignan of the Var. Mezerai, in his _Grande Histoire_, tells us that this place was chiefly renowned for its _Vaisselles de terre_, and there would seem to be good evidence of the existence of its potteries from a very early period to the present day; but of what degree of artistic merit we are unable to decide; neither can we feel assured that the name, as applied to enamelled earthenware, was derived from the French town and not from the Italian city. In Mr. Marryat’s history of pottery and porcelain is an interesting notice on this subject, from which we quote a few words. “Faïence, Fayence, or Fayance, is the old French term, under which were comprised all descriptions of glazed earthenware, even inclusive of porcelain, and, to a certain extent, continues so, corresponding in its general use to the English word crockery. The name is commonly supposed to be derived from Faenza; but it may well be doubted whether upon any authority much to be relied upon, since neither historians nor topographers seem to have considered the matter worthy of their attention or examination. It might be useful to trace the origin of a name so frequently given by the Romans to their settlements. Besides Faenza there was a district in their colony of Barcinum (now Barcelona), and another in Andalusia, which is supposed to have been situated somewhere between Alcala, Real, and Antequera. The old word Fayence, from the Latin ‘fagus,’ a beech tree, has become almost obsolete in France. In Geneva, however, to the present day, beechwood is still sold in the timber markets as ‘de la fayence.’”