Rafe Stefanini (first name rhymes with "safe") is an old-time banjo player, fiddler, guitarist, singer, teacher, violin maker, and restorer.

He was born in Italy and grew up in Bologna. He first visited the United States in the late 1970s and came to live in the U.S. in 1983. He is a permanent resident of the U.S. and lives in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. In addition to playing music, he is also trained in violin making and restores violins.

Stefanini has been a member of the Wildcats (along with Carol Elizabeth Jones and Stefan Senders), a trio called the L-7s with Dirk Powell and Bruce Molsky, with Big Hoedown with Molsky and guitarist Beverly Smith, which disbanded in 2000, and with his wife Nikki and daughter Clelia (who plays fiddle, guitar, double bass, and ukulele) as "Nine Pound Hammer." He has performed live with the Rockinghams and with Meredith McIntosh, John Hermann, and Bev Smith, and appeared on recordings with Bob Herring. As a solo artist, Stefanini recorded for the Rounder, County, Marimac, Heritage, Yodel-ay-hee, 5-String Productions, and World Music Network labels, and has performed on A Prairie Home Companion and at the Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention. He has toured extensively throughout the United States as well as in Finland, Germany, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. His brothers Gianni and Bruno also play old-time music and the three performed in The Moonshine Brothers, which formed in the late 1970s and remained together until Rafe Stefanini moved to the U.S. in 1983. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.