Riccardo Bergonzi "Tartini" violin, 2006, G. Guarneri "del Gesu" model, Cremona, ITALY, with maker's certificate

I’m Riccardo Bergonzi, born in 1961 in Cremona where I live and work.
At the age of nine I start playing the violin and a few years later together with my brother we try to build a violin with woods and tools found at home …
The idea of building an object that produces sounds involved me so much that I decided to enroll in the Lutherie School.

A very beautiful period begins where I meet many people from all over the world, older than me and with many experiences to tell.

In 1979 I graduated and with great surprise they give me the G. Marola Award as the best graduate!
In September of the same year they called me to teach the laboratory and told me it was for a temporary substitute but in the end I stayed for eleven years …
In 1990 I decided to devote myself full time to my shop which I had already opened in 1980 in Corso Garibaldi, 45 in Cremona. I was very young and I had to gain a lot of experience to understand the mechanics of sound but thanks to the musicians I met over the years, I was able to transform the work into an exciting ‘game’ that has not yet tired me.