The Perolini were an ancient family who had been living in Villa d'Ogna (Alta Valle Seriana) since the XVIth century. They were an humble kind of active artisan builders from the Alpine valleys who contributed very much to spread organ music over out-of-the-way zones too. Their organ building activity began in the first half of the eighteenth century and went on till the end of the following one: they worked also in distant lands from Bergamo, as far as regions like Canton Ticino, Piedmont, Liguria. However, their surviving organs are few; there isn't any catalogue of their works, and documents are short. Too long they kept in the shade and were almost completely ignored because of the Bossi's and Serassi's renown. The Perolini had a good reputation in the organ building environment. Giuseppe Serassi II cited them as worthy of memory builders (Sugli organi. Lettere. 1816).

Their organs were strong and their sounds were shrill. The technical quality of their work was of medium level in the organ building outline of Bergamo, but reached quality tops after the ten-year experience at the Serassi's workshops. In their family there were good organists too. Their work has still been waiting for a deeper study.

The Perolini surname has been present in antique books of the parish archive of Villa d'Ogna since the XVIth century. Its origin is still unknown. In some XVIIIth century notarial documents drawn up at Piazza Brembana a certain Carlo Perolini (who was not an organ builder) came from the zone of Como, so, probably that is their place of origin. The environment where they lived was mountaineer; Villa d'Ogna is a town at 542 metres over the sea level, 33 kilometres away from Bergamo and in 1790 it had 243 inhabitants. The Valle Seriana has a rich, precious organ building heritage and qualified music traditions.

The first information about the Perolini from Villa d'Ogna as "organ builders" and "organists" appeared in the first half of the eighteenth century. From the documents, at the moment we can say that:

• Carlo (1727-1804) together with his brother Giacomo (1729-1820) were the first to work as organ builders in their family, and were defined as "Fabbricatori d'orgheni"; the regular holder of the firm was Carlo;
  
  
• they worked in particular in the valleys of Bergamo;
  
  
• we don't know how they learned the organ building art; it is useful to know that in Ardesio (a town nearby) at the Beata Vergine delle Grazie's Sanctuary there is a wonderful Rogantino organ (1636) with a majestic, precious wooden case; the Perolini kept the maintenance of such an organ, and surely considered it a model not only of building, but of taste and style too;
  
  
• their organ building activity had links with that of the Fantoni, the famous carvers, cabinet-makers and sculptores from Rovetta, a town close to Villa d'Ogna; as a matter of fact, in some Fantoni's plans of organ cases, the name of the organ builders is Perolini;
  
  
• we have been left very little of the XVIIIth century Perolini organs: apart from some remainders, the only small organ (with a basis on a 4' pitch) which has still been surviving is kept at the Museum of Gandino: it is signed CARLO PEROLINO 1759.
  
  

In the nineteenth century, the Perolini's organ building activity got more intense and widespread. There were two branches: Pietro's (1758-1815 approx.) and Alberto's ones (1760-1832).

So, two organ building workshops were founded: first, they worked together with different trade names according to particular work circumstances; then, beginning from 1862, they got distinct and separate.

It is very important that three members in the Perolini family worked for more than ten years at the Serassi's workshops: they were the brothers Carlo (1813-1897) and Francesco (1825-1879) and their cousin Pietro (1826-1882 approx.). In 1862 they started working on their own account establishing in Bergamo two different workshops: that is the "Perolini Carlo e Francesco F.lli, Fabbricatori d'Organi", at 1327, Muraine street, and "Pietro Perolini Fabbricatore d'Organi" at 1324, Borgo S. Tommaso. After that important experience, the Perolini built wonderful organs with the Serassi's criteria.

The branch which came from Alberto was rich in organists and builders, and worked much more than the other one; Alberto was defined as an "excellent organist"; his sons Luigi (1790-1867) and Antonio (1792-1864) worked as organ builders while Giovanni (1798-1839), who studied at the Regio Conservatorio of Milan for five years, was an organist master, "very skilful in music art and unequalled in organ sound", esteemed by the very Simone Mayr.

Another important figure was Eugenio (1829-1907), Giovanni's son, born in Alzano Maggiore. He was the regular organist at the collegiate church of Salò (Brescia), and in 1860 at the collegiate church of Morbegno (Sondrio) and of Sondrio; he was a "very skilful organist and composer too, able to satisfy everyone". With regard to such a matter, it is curious to know that in the public competitive examinations for the appointment as organist of Salò and Morbegno, he was very much preferred to his competitor Pietro Bossi (1834-1896), the famous organist and composer Marco Enrico's father.

In the branch of Pietro (senior) the most active was his son Carlo (1797-1870); first he worked together with his cousins, then moved to Bergamo; here, from 1864 to 1870 he was the regular holder of the organ workshop as for his son Pietro (junior).

From 1870 to 1874, Pietro (junior) formed a partnership with the organ builder Giovanni Manzoni from Bergamo; his organ building activity is documented till 1882; his brothers Giacomo (1783-1850) and Francesco (1783-1850) lived in Villa d'Ogna and were "organ players". The Perolini were on good terms with the Serassi; for instance, Alberto made technical valuations on their organs; such a good relation was due to the fact that three members in the Perolini family had worked at the Serassi's workshops, where they learnt the organ building art. With regard to the building activity, we have to say that through an analisis of the nineteenth century organs built before 1850, criteria and constructive systems appear to be almost archaic, but the manual skill and the trimbrical, sonorous taste are of all due respect. After all that, we can say that at the moment, considering the lack of survivng instruments and documents, the Perolini represent a singular, interesting example of organists and builders particularly devoted to the valorization of extant organs, by means of their use and maintenance, also with positive experiences when they built new instruments.