Bissolotti, Francesco Mario

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(b Soresina, Italy, April 2, 1929). Italian violin maker. Bissolotti was trained initially as a woodcarver and engraver in Castelleone, and subsequently learned marquetry and cabinetmaking in Cantù. He attended the Scuola Internazionale di Liuteria di Cremona (S.I.L.C.) from 1957 to 1961 and studied with Pietro Sgarabotto, Giuseppe Ornati, Luigi Galimberti, and Simone Fernando Sacconi. Shortly after graduating Bissolotti opened his own workshop in Cremona, constructing mainly violins and occasionally other string instruments including lutes and guitars. Sacconi shared Bissolotti’s workshop most summers from 1962 to 1972 and together they reorganized the Stradivari artefacts at the Museo Stradivariano, of which Bissolotti was the conservator from 1965 to 1979. In 1973 he founded the Associazione Cremonese di Liutai e Artigiani Professionisti with the purpose of promoting classical Cremonese methods of violin making. Highly respected as a luthier and as a teacher at the S.I.L.C. from 1961 to 1983, he trained numerous students including his four sons, Marco Vinicio, Maurizio, Vincenzo, and Tiziano....