House covered with sgraffito in the village of Pyrgi – Chios, Greece
Sgraffito (plural: sgraffiti;
sometimes spelled scraffito) is a technique either of wall decor,
produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colors to a
moistened surface, or in ceramics, by applying to an unfired ceramic body two
successive layers of contrasting slip, and then in either case scratching so as to
produce an outline drawing. Sgraffito
and sgraffiti come from the Italian word graffiare ("to
scratch"), ultimately from the Greek γράφειν (gráphein) "to write". Related
terms include graffitoand graffiti.