Giovanni Paolo Maggini (c. 1580 - c. 1630), was a was a pupil of another important violin maker of the Brescian school, Gasparo da Salò. The Brescian school predates the Cremona school by a half century and is named after the town in which the earliest luthiers set up their shops. At the time, the violins produced from this group were more in demand than the violins from Cremona.

Maggini's early instruments show that he had learned his trade but his efforts are considered crude and naive. He evolved his own style, and later, as a master, his own techniques of craftsmanship. He experimented frequently to improve the tone quality of his instruments until he achieved a level of expertise that is still highly regarded.

An early genuine Maggini violin will start at $200,000. His later, more expertly made violins will range to $2,000,000 or probably more.

Maggini succumbed to the bubonic plague of 1630-31 that also took another important early luthier, Girolamo Amati. He is known to have made at least sixty violins. Some of his later works are perhaps creations from a different maker since tests reveal that some instruments bearing a genuine Maggini label are from trees living after Maggini's death.