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Raffaela Gabriella Rizzo An intangible cultural heritage asset

Figure 5 Window of luthiers Gaspar Borchardt & Sibylle Fehr-Borchardt in Piazza Sant’Antonio Maria Zaccaria
in Cremona, May 2022.

shops/ateliers: “UNESCO Traditional Violin Crafts- erence with the Ministry is the Municipality of Cre-
manship in Cremona”. mona, coordinated by its own UNESCO Office, is still
The sign inspired the author to conduct explora- in progress. In this regard, the author wishes to cite
tory interviews to comprehend whether the sign was the importance of the public event on 10 May 2022,
only a “decorative” element affixed in the windows at which the work already accomplished was present-
of their workshops or if it had, as it were, become ed to the community by the local institutions (see
“alive” over time. Dialogues were conducted with the Museo del Violino, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/
main actors who work in Cremona and the environs watch?v=cucY72vidUQ).
in fields involved with the savoir-faire of violin mak- Ten years after UNESCO recognition was granted,
ing (see the section on methodology in this paper). the actors involved in the general agreement, coordi-
From these open interviews, it emerged from all the nated by the Municipality of Cremona, have done a
interviewees that they recognised the need to imple- great deal of preparatory work towards drafting the
ment actions themselves in favour of the awareness Plan: in particular, they have drawn up a question-
of the craftsmanship of violin making as a UNESCO naire (as an instrument in which the craftsmen can
intangible element. In the context under examination, have their say) which will be given to the luthiers and
the process of drafting a Plan to Safeguard the Savoir have agreed on a calendar of work sessions on the
Faire of Violin Making, for which the subject of ref- themes that are considered of cardinal importance

Proceedings of the 7th UNESCO UNITWIN Conference | 59