Design culture of playing. The musical instrument industry: an important culture of made in Italy

The production of musical instruments is an industry where Italy is one of the acknowledged world leaders. A musical instrument is a product with a high degree of technology and design, where historical tradition and cultural roots have been handed down, together with the necessary incremental innovations: it has all the features to be considered a very “Made in Italy” product. In any book, conference, exhibition about Italian design it can be easy to find many small traditional companies that produce furniture, accessories, bathrooms, kitchens, tiles, handles, shoes, clothes, glasses, food, wine, and cars: Ferrari is immediately identified as Made in Italy; on the contrary, it could be very hard to find excellent products as a Fazioli piano, a violin from Cremona, an accordion from Castelfidardo, a Harp from Cuneo, cymbals from Pistoia. Why is the Italian musical industry still not present in the spotlight of Italian design?