Trained in the workshop of his brother Augusto Pollastri, Gaetano was born in 1886 and devoted himself to violin making mainly after the First World War, having previously also been active as a violinist. On the death of his brother in 1927, Gaetano inherited his shop that he first maintained in Bologna and then moved to San Lazzaro di Savena.
Together with the workshop, Gaetano also inherited his brother's customers and the models he had conceived, which he continued to use during the following decades. He was also quite busy with dealing and restoration of antique instruments. Gaetano developed a personal approach and a taste subtly different from his brother's, such as in the generally narrower and elongated corners, the slightly more delicate scroll and his varnish, which was in composition and texture more typical of the 20th century. Compared to Augusto, he worked in an equally skillful and neat way, perhaps failing to emulate his warmth and spontaneity.
