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Birth : 1927 in ORTONA

Biography

Salvatore VALENTINETTI was born in the Southern Italian town of Ortona in 1927.
While studying to become a professional violinist he was also drawn to woodworking from an early age, watching his father and grand father, both excellent cabinet makers, working in their workshop.
So, eventually, he was able to combine these experiences to become a professional luthier.

Production
Salvatore VALENTINETTI made many copies of an old, antique instruments, being especially successful in copying those of the Baroque era.
He participated in various Competitions such as Triennale ( Cremona ) as well as Mittenwald and Baveno.
Starting from 1983 he was teaching and leading seminars on violin making in Ortona, Bari, Foggia and Pescara.
Claude LEBET in his third volume of  “Dictionnaire Universal des Luthiers” states that Salvatore VALENTINETTI started making instruments in 1976. His first ones were lutes, mandoles and guitars.
However, two violins and a viola dated 1975 can be found in the Vichy Auction sales of December 2013 and June 2014.
There is also mention of some cellos made by him in Gualtiero NICOLINI’s book “Liutari Italiani di Ieri e di Oggi” where Nicolini also states that VALENTINETTI made more than 70 instruments up to year 1991.
The last violin made by this maker known by us is dated 1999 and was sold in March 2013 by Tarisio Auctions.

Workshop
Piaza Rizorgimento 1. Ortona. Italy

Sources
- Dictionnaire Universel des Luthiers. Tome Troisième. Claude LEBET
- NICOLINI Gualtiero“ Liutai Italiani di Ieri e di Oggi” Volume 2 3rd edition 1991. Edizioni LAC
- Dr. KOBETS Semyon, for personal contribution and researches. ( Kobets Violins. Perth. Australia)
(More specific publication references are available in our Bibliography section.)

 

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