Dario Pontiggia

product types: 

  • Harps
  • acoustic guitars
  • classical guitars

Information: 

Dario Pontiggia (born in Milan in 1973) is an Italian luthier who makes classical guitars and harps. He graduated from the faculty of Industrial Design at the Politecnico di Milano in July 2001 (thesis: "Applications of new materials in classical guitar"). He attended a course on guitar construction at the Civica Scuola di Liuteria in Milan; subsequently he carried out a one-year internship at the workshop of Maestro Lucio Antonio Carbone.

Since June 2001 he has been regularly registered with the Chamber of Commerce as a manufacturer of musical instruments. For the first years he concentrated on the study of the Hauser I model guitars, in particular the instrument that Segovia used after 1937.

Since 2003 he has dedicated himself to the study of models inspired by the Spanish Masters, focusing in particular on the work of Maestro Antonio de Torres. This research was made possible thanks to the collaboration with Maestro Stefano Grondona.

Since 2003 he has been associated with the A.L.I. (Italian Luthiers Association).

In 2004 he began to deal with the construction and restoration of historical harps, collaborating with the harpist Mara Galassi and carrying out careful studies on the Barberini harp at the National Museum of Musical Instruments in Rome and at Castel Sant'Angelo (on this topic he also held multiple conferences).

In 2005 he became Technical Manager of the magazine "! La Guitarra!" for which he still performs expert reports and writes articles on internationally renowned instruments.

Since 2007 he has been a researcher at the Vatican Apostolic Library, where he currently works on the recovery of technical / historical information on the Baroque harp in the Barberini period.

In 2008 he carried out studies on the Welsh harp at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the National History Museum in St Fagans, Cardiff. Also in 2008, he created a copy of the lira of Ur for the artist Roberto Cuoghi (Sumerian harp 5000 BC). This instrument was used to recreate the choral lament for the fall of Nineveh (609 BC), at the Castello di Rivoli, on the occasion of a monographic exhibition by the artist.

In 2009 one of his baroque harps was used by the harpist Loredana Gintoli in the representation of the Orfeo di Monteverdi at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In the last few years he has held several conferences, especially those at the Cremona Mondomusica international exhibition.

 

Location

Dario Pontiggia Liutaio
Viale Rimembranze, 93 - Blocco 27
20099 Sesto San Giovanni , MI
Italy
Milano IT