He ended up working as a boatman, a sailor, a ship carpenter (for many years) and a woodworker.
After twenty years passed on the docks of the port of Genova, he began violin making building mainly six strings lombard mandolins and guitars; he started making violins only after 1890.
By the turn of the century and after Praga's death (1901), Enrico Rocca became the pre-eminent violin maker in Genoa.
His work is always dominated by a great spontaneity and reveals a strong personality.
"There’s no evidence of pupils, but it seems highly likely that Eugenio Praga had occasionally relied on the collaboration of Enrico Rocca, since there are many similarities in their technique and in the models used. "