Son of Serafino, mostly a guitar maker who occasionally also made bowed instruments, Lapo Casini was born in Florence in 1896. He was active from the 1920s until his death in 1986, although during the last period of his career he worked mainly in restoration, a field in which he was highly appreciated.
His personal violins are quite original as they draw inspiration from 18th century Florentine violin making, even if the echoes of this school, influenced by Stainer, are quite distant, and are perceived in the F-holes more than elsewhere; the corners are usually rather long and slender and the channeling quite tight. The varnish, a subject to which Casini also dedicated a rather well-known manual, is of good composition, soft and tending to crackle.
