4 of our Most Remarkable Violins Between £20,000 and £30,000

I was born in Cremona in 1976, the home of lute–making art since 16th century. The city is rich in traditions and old craft workshops where technique, skills and studies have been handed down from father to son. It is the Cremona of Antonio Stradivari and Andrea Amati.

Dario II began practicing violin craftsmanship early on, learning the trade from his family's workshop in Italy. At the age of eighteen, he joined his father's workshop and later enrolled at the Associazione Liutaria Italiana Professionisti in 2001 to further his education. Dario II also gained extensive experience working in violin-making workshops in the United States, including those in New York, Washington DC, and Texas. He follows the same models used in his father's workshop to construct his instruments, utilizing Bosnian and local maple wood, as well as the last remaining supplies from his grandfather. In addition to the traditional spruce from the Val di Fiemme, he occasionally uses wood that originates from 17th-century trees, as determined by analyses conducted at the University of Tuscia in Viterbo. Dario II is an accomplished musician who performs in several chamber groups, including the Anonimo Fiorentino Orchestra, the Desiderio da Settignano Orchestra, and the Giovanile del Veneto Orchestra, with which he has toured abroad.

Mina Mazzolari was born in Korea in 1980. Passionate for music she studies piano for many years, later getting more interested in stringed instruments and after finishing high school she takes the decision to attend the International Violinmaking School in Cremona. She participates in 2003 and 2009 at International Competition for Strings Instruments winning in 2009 with a viola an honorary mention for her 4th position.

Scrollavezza & Zanrè, founded in 2002 in Parma by Elisa Scrollavezza and Andrea Zanrè, is active in the making, restoring and dealing of fine string instruments.

The aim of the workshop is to continue the artistic tradition transmitted through the teaching and the work of Renato Scrollavezza, which for over half a century has been, and still is, a synonym of personality, warmth and delicate equilibrium. In making new instruments, as well as in the preservation of antique ones, Scrollavezza & Zanrè strive to attain an ideal of excellence which is constantly pursued in the field of sound, and in the artistic essence of traditional craftsmanship.