Another important craft in Cariati is the small shipbuilding activity. The presence of wood craftsmen specialized in the construction of fishing boats and pleasure boats call to Cariati lovers of the sea  of southern Italy. The the axe masters art wasn’t born on site but was imported in 1920 by a skilled craftsman from the Amalfi Coast, a certain Monti Natale, which from Maiori, near Salerno, landed on our coast called by many fishermen to build boats. After the first boat, Monti Natale, also had many requests by the fishermen of Rossano, Corigliano and  Sibari, so he decided to conduct his business in Cariati, where he settled with his wife and little child  Vincent of only 2 years old. Next to his home near the beach Natale created a small arsenal in the open air where after  was annexed a shed that was for decades  the site of the Monti’s.

Video of shipbuilding activity

Pottery art is a typical craft activity of Cariati from ancient origin yet now almost extinct. The potters had their own small workshops concentrated in a neighborhood called the "Vucalari" name derived from "vucalu", an earthenware pot with handle and spout used to hold water. The potter's house was very poor (the only laboratory tools were the lathe and a bench). The old process was family conducted: the women collected  twigs and paid attention to drying, the children would prepare the clay and the men took care of the lathe. The clay was mixed with a lot of water by young people and children who, for hours, had to step on  it with their feet to make it pliable. The clay was then shaped with a lathe, consisting of two floors connected by a circular vertical axis. The lathe was operated with the left foot of the vucalaru to make it turn then thanks to the expert hands of the potter, gave shape to those vucali that amaze by their perfection. The craftsman to scratch and line the pots, used a few pieces of a broken comb, to remove the pot from the wheel used a  thin file. Then were put in the sun to dry and later cooked in a kiln  for about six hours at 900 degrees.  An apprentice employed several years before becoming a "mastru vucalaru",it began with simple works such  as "rasticeddi (small plant pots) and worked its way to more complexed works.Today this activity is almost completely vanished, but in the past constructed objects  made by our vucalari were known and appreciated throughout all the South.

Here you can watch a video

Textile producing is the craft activity best known and most interesting of Cariati. It has a  very ancient origin and was imported from eastern places by those people who managed to return to the country after being  deportated in Turkey, following a number of pirate raids during the  fifteenth century. According to a popular legend, very dear to people of Cariati, the art of weaving was introduced in our city by a young woman, Laura, in 1544, during the siege of the pirate Dim Khir called  Barbarossa, she was captured and brought to Constantinoply where she became the favorite of the Sultan. The beautiful Laura lived for many years in eastern land, there she learned the wonderful art of weaving rugs and blankets of different shining coluors on the frame, but her thoughts were always turned towards the beloved land of Calabria,to her Cariati. On the death of the Sultan, when she was finally able to return to Cariati, Laura made known to her villagers the wonderful art of weaving that’s still a boast of a 'craftship in Cariati. Weavers were once many in Cariati and produced rugs, tapestries and carpets, brightly coloured and very intense with special designs: baskets, bouquets roses, stars,rhombs and other designs that recall the Magna- Greek art. The visit to the weaving workshop of Mrs.Maria Russo, a skilled weaver of Cariati and interview has led to a complete knowledge of this wonderful art in via of extinction.