Instrument saved – young star violinist performs with nonsense violin

A true recycling miracle is currently making waves in Italy, and a young Carinthian woman is right in the middle of it. Background story: The lucky finder, who found the violin in a garbage container, took it to a music teacher, who had it restored and discovered that it was a valuable instrument from the 18th century, worth around 60,000 euros. “The label said ‘restored 1935’. I thought the violin could be from the 19th century. Only later did it turn out that it was much older,” says Matteo Fanni Canelles, director of the Ars Nova Academy in Trieste, to whom the instrument was handed over.

“I could see right away that it wasn’t one of those mass-produced violins of low value, but I didn’t know it was an instrument of the highest quality,” the music teacher reported in an interview with local newspaper Il Piccolo. The violin has a beautiful sound.

Violin is also offered to the Pope
The story of the violin was told Thursday night during a concert in Piazza Unità d’Italia, Trieste’s main square, as part of the 50th Social Week of Italian Catholics. The young Carinthian Lorea Mimura, winner of the violin competition of the Ars Nova Academy, played the instrument on a large stage that Pope Francis also chose on Sunday for a mass for thousands of faithful.

“We also informed the Vatican about the history of the violin, because we believe that the violin is an example of the teaching of Francis, who repeatedly warns against a throwaway society,” said Fanni Canelles.