Our story begins in Padova -- Padua, Italy -- that most modern of medieval cities. Padua, as well as the entire Venetian area of Italy, has always been famous for its pipe organ building. By the 1700s, a unique school of organbuilding had emerged in Venice, founded by Pietro Nacchini and his successors. The most famous of these was Gaetano Callido, who built more than four hundred organs in his lifetime. The unique characteristics of this historic organ-building school form the basis of the Ruffatti tradition.

In 1940, Antonio Ruffatti and his two brothers founded the firm of Famiglia Artigiana Fratelli Ruffatti -- Ruffatti Brothers, Family of Artisans -- the full and original name of the company which remains unchanged today. The firm has produced more than five hundred instruments of all sizes, in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The lineage and heritage of Fratelli Ruffatti continues in the twenty-first century with the second generation of Ruffatti brothers, Francesco Ruffatti and Piero Ruffatti, the sons of Antonio, who joined the firm as partners in 1968. Since their father's retirement in 1992, Francesco and Piero have shared the responsibility of running Fratelli Ruffatti.

Piero Ruffatti grew up in the family business, helping to install new organs and working in the design department. He studied engineering at the University of Padua and became a partner in the firm at the age of twenty-five. Piero heads the design department and supervises manufacturing, with particular attention to technical solutions, safety of operations, and quality control. He has served as President of the Italian Organbuilders Association, and as Vice-President of the International Society of Organbuilders.

Antonio Ruffatti and his two brothers learned the organbuilding trade while working for a local firm which, in addition to tracing its musical roots to Nacchini and Callido, boasted more than a century of tradition in organbuilding and manufacture.