His fame now rests mainly as "teacher of the great Paganini", yet his role was very important in the development of violin and viola technique.

Some of the technical innovations that Paganini later used largely, such as left-hand pizzicato, chromatic ascending and descending scales, the use of very high positions on violin and viola, octave passages, were first introduced by Rolla.

Charles Burney, in his musical tour in Italy, refers to Fioroni to acquire information about the Ambrosian Chant.

In 1772, he made his first public appearance as a soloist and composer performing "the first viola concerto ever heard", as reported by a contemporary writer.

[3] Here the new governors, the French and later the Austrians, wanted to create the most important orchestra of Italy and therefore hired the best virtuosos of the time.

[5] He conducted the first Milanese performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, La clemenza di Tito and The Marriage of Figaro and Beethoven's first symphonies.

His works and performances as a violin and viola player, as well as conductor at La Scala, were often reviewed and appreciated in the Leipziger Zeitung.

Bertini, a historian of his time, in a dictionary of musicians reported that Rolla was prohibited from playing in public because women could not hear him without fainting or suffering attacks of nerves.