Bologna is home to the oldest university in the world, a 600-year old mummified saint named Catherine, and, for four days at the end of September, Cersaie, a massive trade show for tile industry professionals and me, a recreational tile enthusiast now facing the challenge of contending with tile professionally. The event is held in BolognaFiere, an imposing venue, tucked away from the city center and its hordes of intimidating Italian teenagers, and is easily one of the more overwhelming but ultimately thrilling experiences for anyone who loves spectacle. I was prepared to learn everything I could about tile, a material that I profess to love, and over the course of three whirlwind days, guess what: I learned even more than I thought was possible.

Trade shows are generally seen as boring, sad affairs, held in hotel ballrooms or outbuildings in rural fairgrounds, and though I wasn’t expecting that, I certainly didn’t know what this trip would bring. As a dilettante, Cersaie presented me with possibilities for tile that had never occurred to me. The complex itself is massive, large enough to swallow at least two Javits Centers, with room for dessert. It would be easy enough to get lost in its cavernous walls when the place was empty, but when crammed full of over 90,000 tile manufacturers, salespeople, enthusiasts, booths and food carts, as it was during the Italian tile industry’s four day exhibition meant to showcase the breadth and splendor of what ceramics can do for you, it is impossible.

The best tile is really just a well-executed optical illusion; if your technicians and your designers are skilled enough, then the product you create, whether it be a slab made to look like rough-hewn wood or copper rich with patina, will look so much like the real thing that the only way to tell the difference is by walking up to it and touching it, feeling cool clay instead of the warmth of wood or metal. All tiles may look different, but for the most part, much of it feels the same. It’s a neat parlor trick that I assume is relatively standard, but wowed me nonetheless. The exhibition booths of Cersaie are essentially Instagram-bait museums dedicated to ceramics; when well-executed, the possibilities for what tile could do for me seemed both endless and attainable, even though my personal budget allows for stick-and-peel versus the real thing.

Tile is versatile! It’s everything to everything to everybody and it will rise to meet your every demand. If the Italian ceramics industry has its way, everything you see around you, from the floors to the walls to the plinth upon which Aunt Marjorie’s Ming vase rests, will be made of tile.

From an aesthetic standpoint, it makes no real sense to use tile that looks like concrete instead of the real deal—but the versatility of tile and the cost difference between, say, a giant slab of Calacatta marble for the kitchen island and the backsplash, is a good reason. Mining marble takes resources and tile is a more sustainable option with versatility beyond what the natural world can provide– and frankly, it’s easier to transport slabs of it into the yard of your gorgeous home. Should you desire a refresh for your home, your yard, or the powder room, here’s some suggestions I saw that you might consider.

Wallpaper, but make it tile

Almost every tile company I saw proudly presented a room or display with tile that, at first glance, and even second, looked like wallpaper. Though this particular trend isn’t for everyone, tiles of this nature make sense for its convenience. Like tile, wallpaper is persnickety to install and requires a professional. But tile of any sort is easier to clean, and therefore, less fussy. While most booths I visited displayed this particular kind of tile in the same way one might use wallpaper, maybe consider some more esoteric applications. I wouldn’t recommend this for everyone, but if you’re feeling fancy, a little whimsical, and lean towards a restrained sort of maximalism, tile the shower in flowers!

Tile, but make it marble

There’s something very uneasy about touching a piece of marble that looks real, and feeling the strange coolness of ceramic (flat and hollow, lacking any real warmth) under your hand. This experience felt profound the first time it happened, but became expected as the days went on. Every tile manufacturer worth their salt will have slabs that resemble marble printed onto the ceramics, and designed by those who took inspiration from nature and turned the volume all the way up. Of all the various specimens I saw, none impressed me more than the offerings from Versace Tile, who leaned into the spectacle of it all, showcasing marble that was so colorful and hyper-realistic that it could not conceivably be found in nature.

It's not wood, it's tile (surprise!)

At Ceramica Sant’Agostino’s beautiful and labyrinthine booth, I saw tile on a wall behind a display bathtub made to look like copper in various stages of patina, and began to succumb to the wonders of what tile could do for me. Copper as a feature wall in a bathroom, or as backsplash in a kitchen, would look incredible, but the ease (and certainly cost) of a slab of tile printed to look like the real deal is appealing. Wood, on the other hand, less so. While many of the tile options I saw looked very much like hardwood floors, they very rarely felt like it; wood has a bit of life to it that clay lacks. If the look of wood is what you desire, but actual wood is impractical, then there are some tiles out there that both replicate the look and feel of wood grain, which should reassure any materials purists out there who would otherwise reject this weird simulacrum.

Tile… furniture?

Because tile is naturally at home in a bathroom, various exhibitions at Cersaie were dedicated to innovative uses of the material in that setting—if you’ve seen one sink with sharp stone edges and no discernible drain, you’ve seen them all—but tile furniture is something to consider. Coffee and end tables covered in ceramic field tile is a micro-trend whose time has largely passed, but I saw a variety of furniture pieces that were vaguely reminiscent of Kim Kardashian’s stone and concrete Calabasas palace. It’s not for everybody, but if this sort of stark minimalism moves your spirit, then tile is a better option in many ways! Concrete is heavy, but tile that’s made to look and feel like poured concrete, less so.

Go wild with the color!

A safe haven during the early months of the pandemic, home is now a place to return to as well as a place to stay. Feathering your nest in a more exuberant fashion feels right. Colored tile, used in unexpected ways, feels fun! A stripe of burgundy in an otherwise pink bathroom sounds worrisome in theory, but in practice, it’s fun and chic and a little cheeky.

Lead photo by ABK

Travel and accommodations for this coverage provided by Ceramics of Italy and the Italian Trade Agency