Celeste Farotti

Celeste Farotti (1864 – 1928) was a violin maker in the modern Milanese school. Though his apprenticeship is uncertain, he completed his training in the workshop of Leandro Bisiach, finally opening his own shop in Milan around 1900. He was a connoisseur of Italian violin making, and a gifted copyist. After an accident during a mountain trip, Celeste stopped working and his nephew, Celestino Farotto (born 1905), ran the shop until his death.

An air of mystery surrounds some of his work, and there are many legends about him, as there are about other makers who made "copies" of instruments that they made look old. Like Gaetano Sgarabotto or Vincenzo Sannino, he frequently enjoyed reproducing the wear and tear of antique instruments.