Pio Montanari cello, Genoa 2016

Genovese violin maker Pio Montanari earned a degree in architecture before studying at the International Violin Making School of Cremona, Italy. In 2004, together with fellow violin restorers Bruce Carlson and Alberto Giordano, Montanari assisted in the 2004 restoration of "il Cannone," the Guarneri del Gesù violin played by Niccolò Paganini. Currently housed in the Sala Paganiniana at the the Palazzo Tursi in Genoa, Montanari continues to serve as a caretaker of the famous violin, as well as its celebrated copy, the "Sivori," made in 1830 by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume.