Giovanni Battista Morassi was one of Italy’s most influential contemporary violin makers. He was born near Udine in 1934. His family was traditionally lumberjack & wood carvers and Giovanni attended woodworking school. Interested in violin making, he went on to win a scholarship to the Cremona International Violin Making School from 1951 to 1955. He came back to the school as an assistant teacher to Sgarabotto in the late 1950s, eventually becoming Maestro Lutao in 1971. The flowing lines of his Milanese style of making were developed from his time with Ornati & Garimberti and have been passed onto his students from the Cremona school. This particular viola has a beautiful, sonorous voice and represents the classical Cremonese school of violin-making he helped establish.