Around 1700, a violin maker from the Allgäu set out for Italy. We do not know his name, but we do know one of his instruments: built in the South German tradition, but likely completed in Venice. It bears witness to a network in which people, goods, and knowledge circulated across Europe more than three centuries ago. Philipp Blom discovered this violin and has become captivated by its sound. He has now researched its history, which tells of migration, the world of craftsmen, and Venice, the music capital of the time. The search for the nameless violin maker provides the key to an entire era that is not so foreign to our present.