By Isla Quinn
Press a key and a strip of metal starts to shake. That is the whole secret of an accordion, and it lives in a town called Castelfidardo.
The town
Wikipedia calls Castelfidardo the “international capital of accordion builders”. It sits in the Marche, in the province of Ancona, at 215 metres above sea level. The English article gives a population of 18,601 at the end of 2017; the Italian article gives 18,483 from 2024. Those are different years, not a conflict, and we leave the town’s size there.
The Italian article says industrial-scale accordion production began in 1863 and credits Paolo Soprani. It adds that the Paolo Soprani company, founded in 1863, is the oldest of these firms. The town’s international accordion museum opened on 9 May 1981 in the basement of the town hall, on Piazza della Repubblica, according to the same page.
How it started
The Italian article on Soprani is the fullest account we found. He was born into a poor farming family in the town and died on 20 February 1918, aged 73. As a young man, it says, he met a pilgrim on the way to Loreto who carried an accordion. Soprani obtained an instrument, took it apart and put it back together to learn how it worked. With his brothers he began making accordions in the family basement and sold them at markets in nearby towns.
Demand grew. The family moved to a larger workshop in Piazza Garibaldi and hired more people. By the end of the nineteenth century, the article says, Castelfidardo had 13 accordion makers, some founded by Paolo’s brothers, and the Soprani company had 400 employees. In 1900 it took part in the Paris fair.
The pilgrim is often told as an Austrian. This source says only that he was travelling to Loreto. We do not add a nationality.
Whose firm was biggest?
The same article says that in the 1910 industrial census the firm of Paolo’s brother Settimio led in production volume. So “Soprani” names a family of makers more than a single factory. Our reading: when a label says Soprani, ask which one.
What is inside the box
Wikipedia’s article on the accordion is plain about the parts. Two boxes, usually wood, are joined by bellows made of pleated layers of cloth and cardboard, with leather and metal. Each box holds reed chambers and has grilles for sound. The reeds are brass or steel strips that vibrate as air flows past them in a frame.
Piano accordions use a piano-style keyboard. Button accordions use a buttonboard, chromatic or diatonic. The left hand plays single bass buttons arranged in a circle of fifths, plus rows of preset chord buttons: major, minor, dominant seventh and diminished. That is the Stradella bass system. The article names Stradella in Lombardy and Castelfidardo as notable centres, but it does not say the system is named after the town.
Reed grades
The article says reeds are graded, from hand-made, “a mano”, down through “tipo a mano” and “export”. It does not say how the grades are tested or who assigns them. For a buyer, that is a question to put to a maker or a repairer, not something a label settles.
Three origins for the instrument
- Berlin, 1822: the basic form is “believed” to be from there, invented by Buschmann, though Wikipedia says no document supports it.
- Sweden: an instrument dated 1830 or earlier.
- Vienna, 1829: Cyrill Demian’s patent.
Wikipedia lays these side by side and does not choose. It also does not say Italy invented the accordion or give a founding date for Italian production. Soprani’s 1863 is a date for Castelfidardo’s industry, not for the instrument.
Dates in order
- 1822: Berlin origin, believed but undocumented, according to Wikipedia.
- 1829: Demian’s patent in Vienna, according to Wikipedia.
- 1863: Soprani begins building accordions, according to the Italian Wikipedia article.
- 1900: the Soprani company at the Paris fair, according to the Italian Wikipedia article.
- 1910: Settimio’s firm leads in production volume, according to the Italian Wikipedia article.
- 20 February 1918: Paolo Soprani dies, according to the Italian Wikipedia article.
- 9 May 1981: the accordion museum opens, according to the Italian Wikipedia article on Castelfidardo.
What kind of sources these are
All four pages are Wikipedia, two in English and two in Italian, and anyone can edit them. The museum’s own website blocked automated reading, and the tourism page for the town did not load. That is why we give no opening hours, no exhibition details and no workshop names.
Questions a buyer would ask
Is a new accordion better than an old one? No source we read compares them.
Which keyboard should a beginner pick? Our sources describe the layouts but do not advise.
What we left out
We left out prices, the names of living makers, the stamp issued in 2013, the town’s battle of 1860 and any claim about export figures. The English article on Castelfidardo lists no accordion makers, so we name none beyond the historical family.
Quick answers
Where are accordions made in Italy? Castelfidardo in the Marche and Stradella in Lombardy are named as notable centres, according to Wikipedia’s accordion article.
Who started the Castelfidardo accordion industry? Paolo Soprani, in 1863, according to the Italian Wikipedia article on him and on the town.
What are accordion reeds made of? Brass or steel strips that vibrate in a frame as air passes, according to Wikipedia.
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Roam first. Shop later.