Artisan Craftsmen
Benedetto Di Fiore
Born in Scapoli in 1885 and died there in 1965, having emigrated to the USA and returned in the 1920, in the 1930s he met the reed pipe makers of Villa Latina, a village on the Lazio side of the Mainarde mountains, and learned the construction techniques from them. This is how he made his first reed pipe, on display today in a glass case in Scapoli’s Reed pipe Museum. He was a highly sought-after tuner and player himself, and the still perfectly functional reed pipes of this great reed pipe master are still kept in Castelnuovo al Volturno. He also left an enormous heritage of knowledge to his students, from his son Ettore to his son-in-law Luciano Di Fiore and Gerardo Guatieri, “second generation” reed pipe makers but unanimously hailed as great masters.
Gerardo Guatieri
Gerardo Guatieri was born in Scapoli on the 18th January 1920 and died on the 20th June 2004. He was undoubtedly the most famous and esteemed of all the reed pipe makers of Molise and of Italy. In over half a century he made hundreds upon hundreds of excellent musical instruments which he sold in Italy and abroad. In 1990, Febo Guizzi placed Gerardo Guatieri among the great names in Italy’s folk music culture.”.
Luciano Di Fiore
Born on the 15th February 1924 in Scapoli, where he spent his whole life, at the age of 12 he started to play the reed pipe, a second hand “28” bought from the craftsman Benedetto Di Fiore whose daughter, Antonia Anna, he married in 1947. At the end of the 1960s he began to make reed pipes, earning a good name for himself over the years among the craftsmen and contributing to advancements in the use and knowledge of the instrument, which he never gave up playing. He died in Scapoli on the 17th August 2003. His son Paolo continues his tradition.
Ettore Di Fiore
Born in Scapoli in 1920 and died there in 1996, from childhood he learned the art of making reed pipes and reeds from his father, Benedetto. Farmer-craftsman and player of reed pipes at Christmas time, it was in his father’s workshop that he perfected the art of making reed pipes. The first Reed pipe Market-Exhibition took place in the 1970s thanks to Ettore Di Fiore himself and the then Mayor Pasquale Vecchione.
Palmerino Caccia
Born in Scapoli on the 15th December 1913 and considered the most expert craftsman of reeds for the reed pipe and the ciaramella, Caccia worked for his father- in-law, Gerardo Guatieri, and made reeds for him which he perfected over the years to the point of becoming an exemplary and essential supplier for musicians not only in the Mainarde area but all over Italy (the reed is the part of the reed pipe and especially of the ciaramella which is most subject to wear and tear). He never left Scapoli, where he died on the 14th March 1991.
