Castelfidardo

Castelfidardo, Italy
It's known affectionately as the "accordion capital of
the world." A small mountain town in the Marches
region of Italy on the Adriatic Sea, it is the place
where the majority of world-class accordions are
designed and built by hand using the finest materials
and craftsmanship. Mike and his wife, Lauren,
recently traveled there.

We were greeted by a sunset over the valley and a
delicious meal of home-cooked pastas at Trattoria
Dionea. The quiet streets are deceiving, as we
discovered that behind the walls of each
manufacturing company, hundreds of accordions
were being built from raw materials each day.

We visited the factories and toured the show rooms
of several brands of the world's best accordions.
Borsini accordions, made by three generations of the
Borsini family in Castelfidardo since 1922, were
being assembled and tuned to perfection before our
eyes. Mike learned some tuning tricks from their
reed expert, and meeting this family gave us the
local flavor of the region and highlighted the passion
this city has for the "fisarmonicha."

We then explored the Victoria showroom, home to a
wide selection of professional instruments. Mike
also tested brand new instruments at the Fantini,
Brandoni and Bompezzo, and Paolo Soprani and
Scandalli factories.

Our final stop was the famous Civico Museo
Internazionale della Fisarmonicha where the
accordion was showcased in its evolution from the
first models in 1829 all the way to the Roland
digital accordion of the 21st century.

We sampled the finest instruments, met some of
the warmest Italian people, and ate some of the
best home-cooked food in Italy. We left
Castelfidardo knowing we would soon be back.
It is truly an accordion enthusiast's dream!