Spode Blue Italian Gourmet Collection. Blue Italian is one of the original tableware patterns; Spode's famous Blue Italian has been in constant production since its introduction in 1816. Unlike many of the other classical scene patterns of the period, the origin of the view for the Italian pattern is not certain; the scene has puzzled collectors for many years. The Spode engravers derived many of their pictorial subjects from scenes that had appeared as prints. Merigot's Views of Rome and Its Vicinity (published in 1796-98) was the source for several Spode patterns, including Tower and Castle, but none of these views has been associated with Italian.
