[3] Probably built upon Roman foundations, Deruta's name in its early variants (Ruto, Ruta, Rupta, Direpta and Diruta) all signify the “ruin” of this strategic site caused by the 6th-century Gothic War and the Lombard invasion.

The ravages of plague were so fierce at Deruta that rewalling in the later 15th century took in a smaller circuit to accommodate the reduced population.

Thus in 1540, when the Papal forces of Pope Paul III ousted the Baglioni family from Perugia in the brief war over salt taxes locally called the "Salt War" (Guerra del Sale), Deruta sided with the papacy against Perugia, an alliance that gained it a reduction in taxes.

The local clay was good for ceramics, whose production began in the Early Middle Ages, but found its artistic peak in the 15th and early 16th century, with highly characteristic local styles of maiolica, such as the "Bella Donna" plates with conventional portraits of beauties, whose names appear on fluttering banderoles with flattering inscriptions.

The lack of fuel enforced low firing temperatures, but from the beginning of the 16th century, Deruta became (with Gubbio) a specialist centre for metallic lustreware in golds and ruby red, added over the glaze.