If you think of “Made in Italy,” two words spring to mind: quality and tradition. No business seems to embody them better than  violin-making these days. A quintessentially Italian craft, the making of stringed instruments is associated with the  Lombardy town of Cremona since the 16th century. 

Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù and Amati produced in their times instruments that still bless our stages today, played by some of the most talented musicians. Theirs are the most famous violins in the world, all made in the first half of the  18th century: the Cremonese, the  Vesuvius and the Maréchat Berthier, by  Stradivari; Paganini’s Cannone, made by Guarnieri, and the Collins by Amati.