Italian accordion from Castelfidardo

Story of the Italian accordion of Castelfidardo-Marche

We asked Licia, a long time friend of ours, devoted accordion student and enthusiast to write for us a page about this Italian instruments.

"Castelfidardo is well known as “capital city of the accordion”, the typical instrument of traditional Italian folk music.

The accordion manufacture of Paolo Soprani in Castelfidardo started the industrial production of this musical instrument in Italy.

According to the legend, one evening in 1863 an Austrian pilgrim seeking shelter, rapped at the door of a farm close to Castelfidardo, the Soprani home.

During the evening the pilgrim delighted the hosting family with a musical instrument never seen before in the area, a kind of concertina.

At night, young Paolo, fascinated by the instrument, disassembled it and studied it carefully: in this singular way the accordion manufacture was born.

On the omnipresent working table that was at the center of all the family activities and the many crafts of the farmers of our region, Paolo Soprani started building his first instruments, confident of its potential.

Paolo’s intuition was correct and Castelfidardo became one of the world most renowned production centers of accordions.

At the moment there are about thirty factories around Castelfidardo, yet the production process is mainly done by hand: this makes the instruments of Castelfidardo famous in the world for their superb quality."

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