Born in 1940, and considered to be one of the most important contemporary Italian violin makers, Gian Carlo Guicciardi began working wood at a young age as a furniture maker. Passionate about the violin, he approached instrument making as a self-taught and by receiving advice from other Modena luthiers; in the 1960s, he made the acquaintance of Ansaldo Poggi and became his main apprentice, starting a collaboration that lasted until 1980.
From that moment on he began his own independent and personal activity, which has remained bound to the Bolognese tradition dating back, through Poggi, to Giuseppe Fiorini.
