Instrument rescued

Young star violinist shows off her trash violin

Lorea Mimura won a music competition and was allowed to play the old violin.

(Bild: Ars Nova International Music Competition)

The 13-year-old Carinthian violinist Lorea Mimura, winner of an international violin competition and a great young talent, played a violin from the 18th century in Trieste on Thursday. The expensive instrument had been found damaged and without strings in the garbage ...

A true recycling miracle is currently making waves in Italy, with a young Carinthian woman at the center of it all. The story: the lucky finder who found the violin in a garbage bin took it to a music teacher, who had it restored and discovered that it was a valuable instrument from the 18th century worth around 60,000 euros. "The label said 'restored 1935'. I thought the violin might be from the 19th century. It was only later that it turned out to be much older," explained Matteo Fanni Canelles, Director of the Ars Nova Academy in Trieste, to whom the instrument was handed over.

"I immediately saw that it wasn't one of those mass-produced violins of little value, but I didn't realize that it was an instrument of the highest quality," the music teacher told the local daily newspaper "Il Piccolo". The violin had a wonderful sound.

Pope Francis focuses on sustainable environmental thinking in his teachings.

(Bild: AP)

Violin is also presented to the Pope
The story of the violin was told on Thursday evening at a concert in Piazza Unità d'Italia, the main square in Trieste, as part of the 50th Social Week of Italian Catholics. The young Carinthian Lorea Mimura, who won the violin competition of the Ars Nova Academy, played the instrument on a large stage, which Pope Francis has also chosen for a mass in front of thousands of believers on Sunday. 

"We also informed the Vatican about the history of the violin, because we believe the violin is an example of Francis ́ teaching, who repeatedly warns against a throwaway society," says Fanni Canelles.