[Apr. 2025] It was a Monday when we walked around Cremona in Northern Italy with our friend and his wife.
Monday is the day when many museums around the world are closed.
The Violin Museum, the highlight of Cremona tourism, was also closed.
Our friend, who is interested in manufacturing, was disappointed.
There was a notice about a tour of Stradivari’s house in front of the tourist information centre, so we went in and asked about it.
However, when the staff called the house, no one answered.
But the staff said that it might be possible to arrange a visit to a violin workshop.
It was not cheap at €110 per hour, but our friend was very enthusiastic, so the staff at the information centre arranged it for us.
The owner of the workshop we visited was a 67-year-old Swiss man named Robert Gasser.
Apparently, when he was young, he came to Cremona to learn how to make violins, and ended up staying there.
He has inherited the Stradivari-style violin making.
He explained the process in detail.
I could see from the way he talked that he is used to guiding tourists like us.
He makes one violin at a time (sometimes a viola, sometimes a cello), and he is currently making a viola.
He uses poplar wood for violas, maple and spruce for violins.
He showed us his tools, and it was interesting to see the tiny planes.
It takes one month just to make the base, and three months to complete.
And the important price is about €20,000.
He kept saying that “making a violin is like carving.”
According to him, there are about 180 professional craftsmen in Cremona, and about 200 apprentices.
This kind of craftsmanship often goes out of fashion, but there seems to be no worries about violin making in Cremona.
He lives on the floor above the workshop, and said that he loves working here so much that when he comes down to work he often whistles.
He may have been exaggerating a little, but he certainly seems like a happy person.
Neither we nor our friends play the violin, but the explanation was very interesting and we had a very fulfilling time.
If my father, who played the violin as a hobby, had been there, I think he would have been able to ask him more in-depth questions.
