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The Embergher-Cerrone Luthier Museum (Museo della Liuteria Embergher-Cerrone) in Arpino: the mandolins that conquered the world
Arpino, the city of Cicero and the wool mills, has written an unexpected chapter of musical history. The Museo della Liuteria tells a story of great significance for the cultural and productive heritage of the city: the workshop of Luigi Embergher (1856–1943), a luthier from Arpino whose mandolins travelled from Moscow to Brazil, and of his pupil Domenico Cerrone, who inherited the brand and the instruments in 1938. The only museum of its kind in central and southern Italy, it opens up to a world of wood, resonance and artisan precision.
A hundred mandolins a month, eleven different models
The Embergher-Cerrone workshop was a small-scale artisan enterprise: it employed 15 workers and produced around a hundred instruments a month, specialising in the Roman-type mandolin, which differs from the Neapolitan model in its neck and four double courses of strings. Eleven variants were made, from student models to the No. 5 Bis for concert soloists. In 1913, Embergher was awarded the title of Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy (Cavaliere della Corona d’Italia).
What you see on a visit
The museum, housed in Casa Felluca-Merolle in the historic centre of the town, displays nearly 300 items: machinery, moulds, tools, finished and unfinished instruments, preparatory drawings, photographs, correspondence and international diplomas. The entire production cycle is traced, from the rough body to the final finish. Some of the machinery is unique.
