Born in Gaiole in Chianti in 1884 to a family of farmers, Igino Sderci initially worked in Siena in a woodcarving workshop, making a few violins as a self-taught craftsman. It was in this city that he came into contact with the Milanese luthier, dealer and expert Leandro Bisiach, who was in Siena at the time to take care of the collection of Count Chigi-Saracini. Noticing the young man's talent, Bisiach invited him as his pupil on his return to Milan, and from that moment on, Sderci had a long working relationship with Leandro Senior and his sons. After returning to Florence in 1924, Sderci formed a particularly close relationship with Carlo Bisiach, for whom he worked, but he also made a large number of instruments on his own, particularly violins and violas, for which he became quite renowned.
A refined craftsman and tireless worker, Sderci made hundreds of instruments during his long life, sometimes selling them unvarnished to more renowned colleagues, including Leandro and Carlo Bisiach and Simone Fernando Sacconi in New York. He used a variety of models inspired by Amati, Stradivari and, more occasionally, Guadagnini and Guarneri del Gesù, always interpreted with a typically Milanese taste. The edges are carefully rounded, with a narrow fluting and a meticulously inlaid purfling. His scrolls, balanced and perfectly rounded, are recognisable even in instruments later signed by those who commissioned them. Having often supplied “unfinished” instruments, Sderci's varnish was rather simple and dry, with a clear amber color.
