Deruta is situated 20 kilometres south of Perugia on a hill that overlooks the valley of the Tiber; the new part extends along the Via Tiberina, parallel to the E45 Road which goes towards Rome. Of the ancient castle remain some tracts of wall, the arches of the three doors to the city and the characteristic medieval streets which lead into the Piazza dei Consoli , where is the Palazzo dei Consoli, today the town hall, with its l4th century tower. Opposite the town hall rises the Romanesque-Gothic Church of S. Francesco with the adjacent convent where Pope Urban IV died on October 2, 1264. The interior, made up of one nave with polygonal apse, contains numerous l4th century frescoes by the Sienese school. Especially notable on the left side of the altar is the martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria (1339), protectress of Deruta's ceramicists who is celebrated on the 25th of November.

The city is world-famous for its ceramic art, which dates back to the l3th century. But the greatest development was reached by the masters of Deruta beginning from the early 16th century. Thanks to the ever-growing fame of Deruta's ceramicists, their workshops were entrusted with the execution of the floorings of the Chapel of the Palazzo dei Priori and of the Sacristy of the Basilica of S. Pietro in Perugia, and of the Baglioni Chapel in Spello. Since then Deruta's ceramics have become famous for their decorative patterns and shapes. These vases, plates and other objects are exhibited in some of the world's greatest museums as examples of remarkable pictorial quality.

In the close Regional Ceramics Museum, dated from 1998, beautiful local antique majolicas are exhibited, and the picture gallery with priceless paintings of various periods: a painting by Niccolò Alunno from 1458; an illuminated missal of the l4th century; altar-cloths of the l5th century. Furthermore, there is a fresco of the Saints Rocco and Romano with a view of the town (1476) recently attributed to Perugino.

Among the best known ceramic masters from Deruta are: Giacomo Mancini, known as "El Frate" (1545); Andrea di Cecco (1584) and a certain "Paolo da Deruta" who in 1516 worked under the great ceramicist Mastro Giorgio Andreoli from Gubbio. A unique documentation of Deruta's ceramics is kept in the Church of Madonna dei Bagni, which is 2 kilometres south of Deruta along the E45 Road. The walls of the church are covered with votive ceramic tiles offered by believers from the 17th century until the present.