The company was founded in 1998 with a line of guitars designed in England by luthier Trevor Wilkinson and manufactured in South Korea.

For example, the basic shape of the Maranello is based on a Swedish Hagström of the late 1950s.

[1] The guitars have been used by many musicians, most notably Chris Rea who discovered them after recovering from pancreatitis and deciding to embrace blues.

A chance trip to a local music store led him to discover Italia guitars.

An Italia Mondial II "Woody" guitar was also played by Haruhi Suzumiya in the 2006 anime series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.