Rossi, born into a family of artists in Bologna, began to study the violin when he was not yet five years old. Such was the conviction with which he played that he received his diploma at the age of only sixteen from the Conservatory of Bologna, at the school of Sandro Materassi. He immediately began giving concerts, and won important competitions both in Italy and abroad, such as those of Vittorio Veneto and Munich. In 1965 when he was eighteen years old, he recorded his first two records for Erato in Paris. He then continued this recording activity for Emi, Dynamic and Naxos, with numerous CDs dedicated to various historic periods: from Vivaldi to Busoni and from Campagnoli to Wolf-Ferrari. Cristiano Rossi has to his credit numerous recitals and important concerts in all the big Italian cities, as well as in Europe, South America, the United States and Japan, and for the most prestigious theatres such as the Barbican Centre in London, Bunka Kaykan in Tokyo, the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, the Philharmonica in St Petersburg, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and the Tonhalle in Zurich. He has participated in the international festivals of Venice, Stresa, Spoleto, Varna, Istanbul, and Dubrovnik, and has played under famous orchestral conductors such as Ahronovitch, Chailly, Oren, Pesko, Renzetti, Soudant, and Delman. He has been invited to participate in numerous important manifestations: for Unicef, for the Bicentenary of the United States (in 1976) with a recital at the White House, for the Columbus Celebrations (1992) in Genoa, where he performed the famous Paganini “Canon”, at Castelgandolfo in the presence of Pope John Paul II, and in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna in both 1995 and 1997 for the memorial concerts of 2 August commemorating the tragic bombing of the Bologna railway station. He has received various prestigious awards, among which the “Diapason d’Oro [Golden Tuning Fork]” from the RAI [Italian National Radio]. He has made numerous recordings of public concerts that have been broadcast on radio and television for the RAI, BBC, RSI, DRF, etc.. He has been teaching at the “L. Cherubini” Conservatory in Florence for more than twenty years, and at present is devoting himself to postgraduate courses for young concert artists, who are invited from prestigious musical academies such as the Accademia Pianistica di Imola, the Tadini of Lovere, and the Accademia Musicale di Firenze.