Working in the shadow of the great masters, the violin-makers of Italy's Cremona are valiantly fighting a shrinking market and foreign competition as they seek perfection, one violin at a time.  The birthplace of Stradivarius, Cremona is a veritable laboratory for luthiers from all over the world, where violin workshops seem to be everywhere you look.

Stefano Conia's studio—just one of the 160 in this northern Italian city of 70,000 inhabitants—has not changed for decades. It's situated at the back of a flower-filled courtyard, and this native Hungarian, one of the doyens of Cremonese violin-makers, heads there every day, despite retiring nearly 10 years ago.