About me

I was born in Breno in the province of Brescia in 1963 and in 1967 my family moved to Cremona. Not even fourteen years old, in 1977 I enrolled at the International School of Violin Making in Cremona, driven by my passion for violin making which in the meantime I had come from living in the “city of violins”, a passion that I cultivated with care and that fortunately become my job. In the first two years at the International School of Violin Making, I attended the course of bow making held by Giovanni Lucchi, and in the following two years the course of restoration of stringed musical instruments held by Bruce Carlson.

On free afternoons during the four years at school I worked in the workshops of Morassi and Bissolotti, learning and refining various construction techniques, experiencing different ideas of style and character, absorbing as much as possible of their experience and sensitivity, learning to know the wood and listening to the stories of their personal relationships with 20th-century masters such as Ornati, Garimberti, Sgarabotto and Sacconi, moments that turned out to be fundamental in the following years for the creation of my instruments. The days in those years began at 8 am and ended at 11 pm, but I was always more motivated and enthusiastic, the fatigue never overwhelmed me and every day I learned something new (but this happens even now) and I passed from school to workshops to evening courses with a fluidity that only a great passion can make possible.

After obtaining the diploma in 1981 with Vanna Zambelli, with my enormous joy and gratitude, Carlson has called me to work with him where I stayed for almost ten years dedicating myself mainly to the restoration of stringed instruments and the study of old instruments that I restored in time. In those years I assimilated the most difficult restoration techniques and I had a great experience in the set-up and acoustical improvement thanks to the many musicians who passed in that workshop and that many are still my loyal customers.

From the experiences made in those fifteen years I realized that continuous study and research are essential to find the right combinations in every instrument, and that it is always necessary to study and learn every day from the important tradition of classical violin making that the great Cremonese masters of the past have left to us with their works.

In 1991 I opened my workshop in Cremona, where I continue the restoration work and the construction of violins which I try to bring to the highest standards of construction quality and sonority. My passion for violin making always pushes me to find the perfect instrument, able to combine beauty and pleasure with the highest possible quality, and it is precisely on this ideal that all my work is founded. Each new instrument represents for me a challenge towards the creation of an instrument that stands out for its uniqueness, its beauty and its sound quality, obtainable only with the dedication, experience and sensitivity necessary to find the unique balance and unrepeatable of every instrument.

I think it is thanks to all this that the quality of my instruments and restoration work is requested by musicians and soloists from all over the world, to whom I try to give back, through my works, all the passion for my job.

I tried to promote our great violin making tradition by committing myself to the creation of “Consortium Antonio Stradivari Cremona” of which I was a founding member and first President from 1996 to 1999 and from which I resigned when I was a councilor in 2001 seen that the ideals that had led to its creation, over time have taken paths which I do not agree with. Then I was also President of the CNA Violin Makers Group of Cremona and National Vice President of the CNA National Artistic Crafts Association and a member of the “Entente Internationale des Maitres Luthiers et Archetiers d’Art” the prestigious association that for 60 years has united the most appreciated violin makers and bowmakers of the world.

In 2024 I have reached 47 years of work as violin maker, and I am still not tired at all and I know that I still have many, too many things to learn.