The wording "Dom Nicolò Amati" is found in a series of instruments made during the first half of the eighteenth century. In recent times, their maker has been identified in the Bolognese priest Nicola Marchioni, born in 1662, who signed with this pseudonym without having any form of connection with his Cremonese predecessors, and instead belonging to the circle of the Tononis.
As in the latter, Emilian and Venetian elements are mixed in his style, and the quality of his work proves to be rather discontinuous. He used several different models, even if his corners projecting outwards remain quite recognizable. The placement of the sound holes is often displaced low on the belly and very close together crosswise, especially in the narrow spacing between the upper eyes; the stems are narrow and tilted. In his scrolls, the throat tends to be low and shallow.
