The mandolin is a plucked string instrument of Italian and Mediterranean origin.

The origin of the mandolin dates back to the mid-17th century (Lombard, Milanese and Cremonese mandolin), but the instrument in its best-known form appeared around 1750 (Neapolitan mandolin).

Certainly, however, the mandolin has much older origins given the organological affinities with instruments of Arab origin (for example the oud which gave rise to the lute, the Lombard mandolin etc) and Ottoman’s (saz and baglama easily associated with the Neapolitan mandolin) .

The first known Neapolitan Mandolin luthier is Antonio Vinaccia.

The Vinaccia family is the longest-lived dynasty of Neapolitan luthiers as the oldest mandolin currently found is signed Filius Januari Vinaccia and is dated 1752 and the latest ones are dated 1914.

Pasquale Vinaccia was responsible for the application of harmonic steel strings, replacing the brass and gut-strings used until the early nineteenth century.

Later the virtuoso luthier, composer and mandolinist Raffaele Calace (Naples 1863-1934) made some important changes to the instrument, such as the enlargement of the sound box and the lengthening of the fingerboard in order to increase sonority and extension.

Among the most important mandolinists of the twentieth century are Carlo Munier, virtuoso mandolinist, composer and pedagogue, Carlo Curti, who contributed largely to spreading the instrument in the United States and Mexico, Raffaele Calace, Michele Salvatore Ciociano (1874-1944), composer and mandolin virtuoso, author of pieces of great technical skills.

The « classical » repertoire of the mandolin ranges from baroque to contemporary music, but the instrument has always had an « double expressive soul »: « savante » and popular.

The mandolin has been, since the second half of the 18th century, the instrument used in serenades, but also the instrument of choice of the young nobles of the European courts, as attested, for example, by the compositions for mandolin and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven dedicated to Bohemian Countess Josephine von Clary-Aldringen.

At the same time, the use of the mandolin in the serenade of Mozart's Don Giovanni is irrefutable proof of the fact that the mandolin had an important role in Neapolitan popular culture.

Thanks to Italian and Portuguese emigrants, the mandolin also spread overseas, to the USA, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, taking on other forms and adapting perfectly to different musical styles such as bluegrass and Brazilian choro.