Pilgrimage to Accordionland (part one)

Italy shares the musical traditions of the accordion with all of Europe, especially France, Germany, Poland, and Scandinavia, but it was Giuseppe Verdi that recognized it as a “proper” instrument and recommended its induction to conservatories of music. No matter your perceptions, Italy truly owns the accordion.

 

Picture Italy’s central Adriatic (Eastern) coast. 

Some may know this area because of major shipping port of Ancona, or for the city of Pesaro, home of music composers Gioacchino Rossini and, more recently Riz Ortolani, soprano Renata Tebaldi, or even for championship winning, exotic Benelli Motorcycles-perhaps the longest continuously operating firm in its field, having produced the world’s first 6 cylinder production bike which “sings” its way down the road (how Italian!) Even lesser known Recanati lays claim to tenor Beniamino Gigli. However, these wonderful, must see attractions are secondary to me.

 

More important to this accordionist (and my new accordion recruit, my Lady, Angela) is the musical pilgrimage to “Accordionland Central”, specifically, picturesque hilltop town Castelfidardo and its surrounding hilltop, accordion hamlets of Camerano (home of Scandalli accordions), Numana (home of Frontalini accordions), Loreto (home of the Blessed Mother’s house and the “accordion piazza”) and even Recanati (partial home of Fratelli Vaccari accordions).

 

In the historic center piazza of Castelfidardo, is the “Museo Internazionale Della Fisarmonica”, that is, the International Museum of the Accordion, established in1981 (here’s the English language website: http://accordions.com/ museum/).

 

Multiple curators with a great love for music and the accordion maintain the Museum pristinely and operate it impeccably. Since my first visit in 2008, I have met Paolo Brandoni, Fabio Petromilli, Maurizio Pomposini and Beniamino Bugiolacchi.

 

I finally had the pleasure of meeting the unassuming Bugiolacchi during this year’s visit in August. This is the man who has been one of the masterminds behind the Museum since the day it opened in May of 1981. He has been the Director for 21 years (since the beginning) and still unassumingly (and usually anonymously) answers everyone’s emails. Interestingly, not all of these men spent their life in the accordion business, but nonetheless sport names of “accordion royalty” (Petromilli, Bugiolacchi, and Brandoni).

 

A bit of Italy’s Accordion History.

Circa the late 1850’s, an Austrian pilgrim visiting the Blessed Mother’s home at the shrine in Loreto stopped by the Castelfidardo farmhouse of the Antonio Soprani family, allowing young Paolo Soprani to first experience and examine his early, typewriter keyed, “organetto” type accordion.

 

Almost immediately, Paolo knew he could produce a superior instrument that was better adapted to the popular music of the time. He soon started a “basement firm” along with his brother Settimio. Little did he know that he would become the “Father of the Accordion” as we know it, forever planting the International flag of the accordion in Castelfidardo. Young Paolo started selling his accordions in the Loreto shrine’s piazza, as future accordion legend Silvio Scandalli of neighboring Camerano and other accordion producers would later do (does this make the Blessed Mother the patroness of the accordion?) Thus, the Accordion Movement as we know it, was born.

 

A bronze bust of Paolo Soprani denotes the entrance to the Museum. The museum extols a few of the instrument’s more famous sons: Fred Astaire, John Lennon, and Gervasio Marcosignori, to name a few. Yes, Astaire, his sister Adele and his accordion toured as a Vaudeville act, and John Lennon actually composed some of his tunes on the accordion, while Marcosignori can be called a “Segovia” of the accordion, and certainly the champion of the Electronic Accordion.

 

Though the museum’s collection consists of about 420 instruments, the large group of chosen, pristine pieces (over 150) on display along with the graphics, photos and mementos constitute an elaborate, evolving exhibit. One corner of the multi-hall museum is reserved for a fabulous, short documentary film viewing area.

 

Upon our arrival in Castelfidardo in 2008, with no one available for information in the middle of the afternoon, my lady Angela and I questioned two elderly ladies who were sitting outside, chatting. We were hoping to get the slightest bit of direction toward accordion related activity. These two ladies knew exactly which families built what parts for which factories, who worked where for how long, and the current “Accordionland” manufacturers’ profile, including the factories that were “kaput” (their hilarious remark). The locals, known as “Fidardensi”, live and breathe accordions!

 

Though I have visited as a humble accordionist and coffee merchant (of the pioneering, globally known Caffé Trieste) from one of the USA’s historic, big three accordion towns, namely San Francisco (whose official instrument now is, not incidentally, the accordion), I have been welcomed with open arms.

During one visit, Fabio Petromilli turned-on and powered-up every exhibited electric instrument and music box that wasn’t nailed down; quite a treat. Interestingly, though the Petromilli name is legendary in the local history of the accordion, Fabio spent his career working for the township (Comune) of Castelfidardo and only entered the accordion business when he retired and joined the Museum as a curator.