Armolia — The Village of the Potters

The art of pottery has been practised in Armolia for so long that no one can say when it began. The local clay — red, fine-grained, and extraordinarily workable — has been throwing pots, storage jars, cooking vessels, and decorative pieces since antiquity. Today Armolia remains one of the few places in Greece where you can watch traditional pottery being made on a wheel, by hand, in the way it has always been made.

The village sits about 20km south of Chios Town in the agricultural plain between the capital and the mastic villages. It is not beautiful in the way that Pyrgi or Mesta are beautiful — it is a working village without medieval drama or striking architecture. But its pottery workshops are genuine and its craftspeople are the real thing.

Several workshops are open to visitors. You can watch potters at work, handle the clay yourself if you ask nicely, and buy pieces directly from the maker. The pots of Armolia — rounded, simple, in the red-brown tones of the local earth — are some of the most honest souvenirs you can take away from Chios. They have been made this way for a thousand years. They will last another thousand.

What to Do

• Visit the pottery workshops — most welcome walk-in visitors
• Buy directly from the makers — prices are fair and the pieces are authentic
• Continue south to Pyrgi (7km) to complete a pottery-to-xysta day trip