The late leader of the Catholic church blessed the Violino del Mare in 2022, which was made by Italian prisoners to raise awareness of the plight of refugees crossing the Mediterranean

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Source: CNS / Vatican Media

The Violino del Mare was blessed by Pope Francis at the Vatican in February 2022

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Pope Francis died on 21 April 2025, aged 88. Tributes are flowing worldwide for the pontifex, who led the Catholic church since 2013.

In February 2022, the Pope crossed into the consciousness of the string-playing world, when he blessed a violin made by inmates of a Milan prison out of salvaged wood from a migrant boat.

The Violino del Mare (Violin of the Sea) was initiated by the Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti Foundation in its project called Metamorphosis. Ten boats used by refugees to cross the Mediterranean to reach the Italian island of Lampedusa were sent to the Milan-Opera prison for the scheme, which saw the wood transformed into objets d’art by the prisoners. 

The Violino del Mare was crafted by inmates under the guidance of master luthier Enrico Allorto, and was the first violin to come out of the workshop, with plans to make more bowed stringed instruments.

Violin front full

The Violino del Mare still bears the paintwork from the migrant boats

Violin front

Since 2014, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has documented nearly 28,000 migrant deaths or disappearances in the Mediterranean, which has become Europe’s largest graveyard.

The instruments made from the boats aim to shed light on the reality that migrants experience – a reality that is often overlooked or viewed with indifference – with the hope to become a symbol of hope, work, beauty, poetry and prayer.

The Violino del Mare has been on display at Cremona’s Museo del Violino since November 2022. The instrument’s history is told in a series of educational sessions aimed at schools, through storytelling and images.

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Presentation ceremony of the Violino del Mare at the Museo del Violino

Violino del Mare photos courtesy Roberto Domenichini for Museo del Violino

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