Let’s Catch Up With Fabio Ragghianti

by Brian Yarosh

Originally published in American Lutherie #114, 2013



Back in the spring of 2000, AL#61 was published with an interesting and well-written “Meet the Maker” article on Fabio Ragghianti by Harry Fleishman. Shortly after that article was published, I had the pleasure to meet Fabio at Harry’s shop in Boulder, Colorado. Now that I’ve become a close friend of Fabio’s and a fellow traveler on his most recent adventurers in lutherie, I felt it fitting to discuss with him what has gone on in the past thirteen years and what might be in store over the next thirteen.

I’m sure there is a lot to cover since your interview with Harry back in 2000. First off, how are you doing? Family good?

Besides a few minor health problems due to aging, I guess I’m fine all in all. I still live with my wife Luciana in the same 17th-century house with 80CM thick walls up on a hill in Tuscany. When Harry visited, my shop was here in the basement. Eight years ago, I opened a shop in the nearby town of Pietrasanta, specifically to make it easier for customers to find me. I still do a lot of repair, which pays the bills, and I like it. Repairs, besides the routine stuff, can be very challenging and require creativity, ingenuity, and intuition. But the most important change in my life was the birth of my grandson Milo, in September 2011.