Bontempi, the inventor of musical toys, passes away

The Macerata entrepreneur Paolo Bontempi, founder of the company recognized worldwide for having transformed all the main musical instruments into children’s toys and, among these, the keyboard, which represented a great technological revolution. It is no coincidence that there was talk of the ‘Bontempi Method’, which allowed you to learn to play intuitively thanks to the colors on the keys.

The boom between the 70s and 80s, when the three Bontempi companies employed 600 people. Those colorful instruments similar to the originals ended up in the hands of children in many countries, not just European ones, the brand was appreciated for the uniqueness of its products and the entrepreneur managed to close agreements with Walt Disney, which distributed instruments inspired by Mickey Mousewith Warner Bros. and with Barbie.

In 1960, Paolo Bontempi graduated in electronic engineering at the Bontempi Polytechnic of Turin and inherited from his father Egisto ‘La accordion’, a small artisan workshop that produced accordions, which he completely transformed also thanks to a significant investment in plastic processing machinery. In 2023, he received the Mugellini Prize, for a life dedicated to musical education in the little ones.