Olive's foil

In November last year, we spent an evening exploring Deruta. The site of an ancient Roman settlement succeeded by a medieval comune, in the picturesque Umbria region of Italy, the hill town is famous for its ceramics &mdash especially tin-glazed maiolica pottery. Given their popularity in the export market, the umpteen shops peddling unbelievably beautiful wares were a wee bit expensive. But at one of these little shop-studios, we made friends with the septuagenarian potter. The enthusiasm with which he demonstrated the whole process from scratch was so contagious, we couldn&rsquot resist. We wanted something to remember him by. In a region where anointment with olive oil used to be a ritual honour, this lovely blue and yellow decanter (&euro30) seemed an apt memento. Its distinctive bright-white base &mdash that&rsquos the tin glaze &mdash certainly seems to underline the purity and flavour of olive oil I also brought home from Italy.