Annibale Fagnola

Violin maker
(1865 – 1939)

Before moving to Turin in 1894, Annibale Fagnola was employed as a baker and seems to have had no direct relationships with any violin makers. The workshop of Marengo-Rinaldi was the only active violin making operation in Turin in the years immediately following Fagnola's arrival, and it is likely that he cultivated his first contacts there before opening his own business in 1899. In fact, some of ...Read More Fagnola's earliest instruments may have been sold through the Marengo-Rinaldi shop bearing that label.

After some experimentation in the early 20th century with the Turinese inspirations of Rocca, Oddone, and Guerra, Fagnola eventually settled on Pressenda as his favored model, and today he is known best as an exceptional and prolific copyist of Pressenda. While the instruments of the 1920s in are regarded as his best body of work, in general the quality is quite high. Guerra, Riccardo Genovese, and Fagnola's nephew Annibalotto all worked in his shop at various points. Read Less