 The father of company founder Victor (Vittorio) Salvi was an Italian luthier, piano and harp maker from Venice who worked in Viggiano, a town in Southern Italy known for its musical instruments before emigrating to the United States together with his wife in 1913.Victor Salvi was born in Chicago in 1920.Like his siblings Alberto and Aida, he learned to play the harp and became harpist of the United States Navy Band during World War II and later with the New York Philharmonic and with the NBC Symphony Orchestra.