Cremona perfected the violin and still holds the world's densest concentration of makers. What the city means today, and why the maker matters more than the postcode.
Cremona is where the violin's classical form was worked out, and it remains the densest concentration of violin makers anywhere in the world, with well over a hundred workshops and an international school that draws students from every continent. But the honest version of the story, the one a dealer should tell you, is that Cremona today is a place, not a quality mark. The best contemporary Cremonese work stands with the finest being made anywhere. The weakest does not, and both carry the same city on the label.
The classical Cremonese school runs through three families. Andrea Amati, working in the mid-sixteenth century, established the form of the violin essentially as we know it, and his grandson Nicolo Amati trained or influenced the generation that followed. Antonio Stradivari, born around 1644 and active in Cremona until his death in 1737, refined the model across seven decades of constant experiment, and his golden-period instruments remain the reference point for the craft. Giuseppe Guarneri 'del Gesu', working until 1744, is the other summit: freer, bolder work whose sound many great soloists have preferred. Makers such as Francesco Ruggeri, from the circle around Nicolo Amati, filled out a city where the craft was a genuine industry, with workshops competing, borrowing and improving on one another for two centuries.
The living tradition is real. The international violin-making school founded in 1938 rebuilt Cremona as a centre of training, and many of its graduates stay and open workshops in the city. Traditional Cremonese violin craftsmanship was inscribed on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage in 2012, and the Museo del Violino, opened in 2013, holds instruments by Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri that are still played in regular audition concerts, which remains one of the best ways anywhere to hear what these instruments actually sound like in a hall.
Not automatically, and this is the point most articles on Cremona avoid. The city's workshops range from world-class makers with long waiting lists to production aimed mainly at visitors. What predicts quality is the same in Cremona as everywhere else: the individual maker's training, their consistency across many instruments, and which serious players choose their work. When we consider a Cremonese maker, we judge the instruments on the bench, not the address, exactly as we do with makers in London, Paris or Chicago. Our guide to the contemporary makers we rate most highly explains how we make those judgements.
We have worked with Cremona since MyLuthier's first year. We met Daniele Tonarelli at his workshop in the city in 2018, and he has been one of our most popular makers ever since, born and trained in Cremona and known above all for his antiquing and for a 1772 Guadagnini model we keep coming back to. The same year we first played Francesco Toto's instruments in his workshop; his gold medal in the cello section of the 2006 Cremona Triennale was no accident, and it took us years to get one of his cellos into the London showroom.
Our Cremona roster also tells you what the city actually is now. It is international: Benedicte Friedmann from France, best known for her Guadagnini models; Lucas Fabro from Argentina, working from Stradivari and Ruggeri models in his own workshop; Mina Mazzolari and Anna Arietti, both born in Korea; Georgi Nikolov from Bulgaria; and Leonidas Raffaelian, Greek-born, trained under Gio Batta Morassi, whose commissions include instruments made for Rostropovich, Vengerov and Bashmet. It is school-trained: nearly all of them passed through the city's violin-making schools. And it still works in lineages, much as the old city did. Edgar Russ, with over thirty-five years at the bench, has trained or employed a generation that includes Mazzolari, Arietti and Marco Dotti, several of whom now run their own workshops. Alessandro di Matteo, a former orchestral violinist, has taught at the school itself since 2001, and Akop Azoyan spends much of his practice researching the varnishes and grounds of the classical makers. Even bow making has returned to the city: Emilio Slaviero trained in Paris and now makes bows in Cremona with his son Luca.
Every one of these makers is on our books because of the instruments, not the address. But taken together they are the best evidence we can offer that the living tradition in Cremona is exactly that: alive.
For a musician, the Museo del Violino is the essential stop, and it is worth timing a visit to one of the audition concerts, where historic instruments from the collection are played live. Beyond the museum, the pleasure of Cremona is that the craft is visibly alive: workshops are scattered through the old city, and many makers welcome serious visitors by appointment.
Last reviewed: August 2026.
Pedro Silva is a cellist and one of the co-founders of Myluthier.co. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2018 with a Master of Arts in cello performance, studying with Guy Johnston. He enjoys an varied freelance career as an orchestral, chamber musician and frequently collaborates with Early Music ensembles and West End productions.
Not all cellos are created equal, especially when it comes to size. In this feature, we dive into the world of large cellos, their unique characteristics, and the majestic resonance that makes them stand out!
We encourage you to embark on your journey to find the perfect contemporary violin, knowing that it will contribute to the preservation and evolution of the craft.
Understanding violin restoration: Assess your instrument's condition, explore its historical value, calculate restoration costs, and appreciate the potential value increase. Consider personal and practical aspects, and explore the professional services offered by MyLuthier .
