1474 treatise on education which achieved considerable popularity
and was printed in thirty Italian editions before the year 1530:

“music made by singing or striking [strings] is quite seemly;
while blowing [playing wind instruments] is less suitable to gentlemen.”

1478 treatise discussing which instruments
are ‘approved’ and ‘disapproved’  ‘trumpeters,
pipers and drum players” come into the latter category
…as infamous, based on Aristotle’s condemnation
of wind instruments”

1501 translation of a ninth century text in which the Persian astrologer Abu Bakr al-Hassan ibn al-Khasib
suggested how the stars might influence the development of a child’s character and ultimate fate:

Chapter 100 ‘On the birth of jongleurs [Ioculatores] “When Venus is with Mercury in her house, and in the angles:
the native will be a mime or jongleur such as play instruments with the hand and tongue….

first printed edition of the Latin translation of the Book of Births, (Venice: Giovanni Battista Sessa) 'Liber Nativitatum' 850-875

1510 plate rim, made in Faenza, Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna

1553 ' Military Trophies Plate 12' print

late 13th / early 14th century poem:

"...You heard the sound of many sweet dances
with guitars and numberless carribi;
and trumpets and reed flutes all in harmony,
and well chosen German cymbals;
Cannoni and mezzi cannoni being played freely,
pipes and well tuned drums..."

'L’intelligenza', an allegorical poem by Lippo Pasci de’ Bardi, Florence

"The town band of Pisa in 1324 had one shawmist, one nakerer
and two pairs of trumpeters. For a larger band, a bagpiper
or a pipe-and-taborer, being readily available, might be added.
These were military bands in the full modern sense, performing
at state functions, cavalcades, tournaments and in battle."

‘Woodwind Instruments and their History” by Anthony Baines, 1956

15th century demon fresco
Church of San Fiorenzo, Bastia Mondovi Piedmont

1479 fool Check Link

ca 1410 fresco
“Besides harp, angels play four trumpets, nakers, pipe and tabor, fiddle, double recorder, portative organ,
tambourine, triangle, lute, shawm (recorder) and cymbals”

'Assumption of the Virgin' by Gaultieri di Giovanni da Pisa. Siena: Chiesa Santa Maria del Carmine

1450 angel player, Lombardy
"Carried by angels, Mary ascends to heaven and is crowned by Jesus Christ. He is surrounded on the right
and left by choirs of angels singing from scrolls. On the far left two angels play music with one-handed flute
and drum, rebec..."

find link

1469 Milan  Galeazzo Maria Sforza, a patron of music, spent 5,768 lire on secular musicians—
seventeen ducal trumpeters, five pifferi, a lutenist, a viola player, and a pipe-and-tabor player (tamborino)

1451-1500 Naples, description of armies:

"Two army trains are marching to the right and left around a tent camp. 
They are each led by a drummer with a one-hand wind instrument." 

15th century dance book:
“…In a Ballo it is clear that the same tune played by a pipe and tabor or by a lute 
or by a trio of reed-instruments cannot have the same arrangement…

In the Balli of French origin found in the Italian treatises or whose music was taken from the French repertory
to create an Italian choreography it has been particularly suitable the use of the one-hand flute together with
the tabor (pipe and tabor), not only by accident"

‘Mesura et arte del Danzare: Italian Balli of the XV Century’

Dance treatise: Check Link
“Songs-and special singers were occasionally used to accompany the dancing and several references are made
to tamburini [pipe and tabor-players] who helped 'to keep the measure' “.

Tamburini could also mean drums

1510 music is considered to be base and liable to corrupt: it is not a fitting recreation for adolescents:
“But to lead dances, to play [instruments], …is for pimps and for the plebeians: for both wickedness and laziness
are wont to arise from music, especially at this time”

1600 freize on a spinet made in Venice, playing for dancing:
"musicians and dancing putti above the keyboard, from left to right: a putto with one-handed flute and drum..."

check link

Description of an allegorical representation of the world, and the means of escape from its perils and follies....
In the centre is a painter at his easel, a company of people dance to a tabret and pipe. source

'The book of Sancto Giovanni Climaco of the escape of the world and of the Sancta Scala begins.' Transactions of  Bibliographical Society, London, 1892

Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519) in Ferrara and Isabella d'Este (1474-1539) in Mantua were patrons who competed
against each other and formed a rivalry in which they “were never friendly with one another.” Both women
expanded elements of music such as: “frottolists, singers, string players, and a  pipe-and-tabor player!”

‘Renaissance Music’ by Puneet Sharma, 2010

check link

1487 Lucretia d’Este’s wedding festivities in Bologna
"...among the grandiose celebrations was a remarkable rappresentazione: a fable of love, chastity, and marriage.
The allegory-spectacle included vocal and instrumental music, dramatic-poetic text (spoken and sung), scenic effects
(moveable stage machinery), costumes, mime, and a great deal of dance. ... a prelude, which featured the extraordinary
dexterity of a six-year-old Tuscan girl dancing both alone and with a male partner (her teacher?) to the accompaniment
of pipe and tabor

check link

1490 wedding festivities for Isabella d‟Este in Mantua
During a performance of a play by the ancient Roman playwright, Plautus,there were three intermezzi:
the first was a dance done with torches; the second was sung. The third, a moresca in mime and dance, featured
a group of “rustics” who, with hoes, spades, rakes, and winnowing fans, alternately “worked the land” and “fought
with swords,” always keeping in time to the pipe and tabor music and cuffing each other for fun at their exit"

check to find link

On 6 January 1502, Lucretia Borgia left Rome for Ferrara ...
During the first ball, the ambassador from Parma reported that Lucretia
“danced many dances, in Roman and Spanish fashion, to the music of her pipe and tabor players.”

Lucretia Borgia-Este’s Wedding Festivities: Rome and Ferrara, 1500–1501

1502 an entertainment for Lucrezia Borgia
“…In the evening they all again went to hear the comedy which was the Asinaria  of Plautus, and which occupied
five hours….After the first act was represented a moresca commenced, in which fourteen men were dressed as satyrs
— one performer having on his shoulder an ass’s head covered with plates of silver, playing a pipe and tabor.
The moresca began by the player of the pipe and tabor first appearing on the stage….”

‘Lucrezia Borgia, duchess of Ferrara, a biography’ by William Gilbert, 1869

1567 Margaret of Parma, (1522-86), was a notable patron of music and employed musicians in her household.
Her household accounts “ record New Year’s gifts, so it is difficult to know if the artists named are in her regular
employment or were simply hired for special occasions.… three records include payment to a trumpeter,
five Italian violin players, a fifer and drummer, extra singers for the chapel, and two instrumentalists …”

‘THE MADRIGAL IN ROME: MUSIC IN THE PAPAL ORBIT, 1520-1555’ by Letitia Glozer, 2007

1569 Verona: an inventory lists several sets of flutes and recorders including a complete chest of twenty-two
recorders, two tabor-pipes, five crumhorns, and a curtal.

‘Instruments of the Middle ages and Renaissance’ by David Munrow, 1976

1660 extracts from 'The History of Italy' ‘The history of Italy from Rome to Naples - Italy in its original glory, ruine, and revival being an exact survey of the whole geography
and history of that famous country, with the adjacent islands of Sicily, Malta, &c. : and whatever is remarkable in Rome (the mistress of the world)
and all those towns and territories mentioned in ancient and modern authors / translated out of the originals for general satisfaction ‘
by Edmund Warcupp, Esquire: page 253/254

1666 'Varia Historia' from third century Rome was translated into English. The book is a miscellany of anecdotes
and biographical sketches, lists, pithy maxims, and descriptions of natural wonders and strange local customs:

" …As for Dionysius, he suffered the vicissitude of Fortune at Corinth, in extreme poverty, becoming
a Metragyrta, and begging Alms, beating a Tabour and playing on a Pipe till he died….”

Description of a caricature 'Scherzi di Fantasia': 
"a fat figure on the left, four adorned men at her side, two of them playing the lute and one-handed flute
with a hand drum, on the right a thin figure with six ugly people in his wake."

caricature by Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini (1636 – 1707)

18th century Lombardy

close-up of taborer

1816 description of an engraving by Altobello:
"Four cupids playing on musical instruments “…the fourth Cupid, on the right, wears a wreath, and plays
on the pipe and tabor. The three last-mentioned figures are naked. All the four have wings….”

‘An inquiry into the origin and early history of engraving, upon copper and in wood.’  by William Young Ottley

21st century
copy of 17th century tarot card

" I would like to point out the presence of the three-holed flute
and the tabor in Sardinia. It probably remained in use until the 1950s,
as evidenced by a film from that period ... in a series
of. instrumental performances"

"The tamburinu is small in size, and is made with two wooden planks
stacked and held together with nails. ... This combination is not native
to the island, but was imported by the Iberian governors, which is why
it retains great similarities with the combination found in the Balearic Islands.
Although it has now completely disappeared in Sardinia, it is known that it
was an important instrument to accompany dances and some liturgical acts."

The traditional method of making a drum here [video]

 In many parts of Sardinia, especially
in the South, “Sa Tzerachia” was
in force; in practice a musician
was paid for a certain period
of time (usually a year) and this
person had to play for all special
occasions and for holidays
exclusively for the group that
hired him.

nursery rhyme illustration

Around 1850-1860, in Italy and Europe and especially in England, a blind and skilled sivli player, 
Giuseppe Picchi known as 'the blind man of Bobbio', played many concerts on the sivli. 1880 review

With three holes, it has an extension of eight notes plus the sensitive, obtained by combining the opening
and closing of the three holes, plus the use of the hole on the bottom. Valle Imagna, Bergamo, Lombardy,
has always produced turned objects used for everyday life. Alongside bowls, cutting boards, tool handles,
taps for barrels, musical instruments also came out of the artisan shops These were then sold on the stalls
of markets and fairs. One of the last families was that of the Angiolini di Brumano.

1220-1240 book of astrology translated
from Arabic; Sicily

1832 balls in Messina
“…balls were given at regular intervals, and one of the best attended was that of the Consul of the United States,
a member of the Society of Friends ! The public balls of the Society ...may be considered as the best specimens
of Messinese, fashionable meetings.... These delightful parties were held in the extensive refectory of a convent...
The spirit stirring sounds of the tabor and pipe but ill comported, however, with the solemnity of the adjoining
church and cloisters…”

Liverpool Mercury - Friday 03 February 1832

There are approximately fifty images in works of art where the instrument can be clearly identified, along with
some rare written information in texts from the period. Towards the end of the 16th century, representations
of this instrument begin to disappear from all artistic contexts.

 'Altobasso or buttafuoco, a musical instrument. Raccolta di testimonianze of the presence of the tamburo a corde in Italia' by NIERO, Loris, 2022

1537 a three-year contract stipulated in Cosenza, by the maestro Jacobo Rispoldi and the pupil Filippo Sisca.
The former undertakes to teach the pupil to play some instruments including the “buttafuoco” and the flute.

1570 Naples ‘The vaiasseide’, a mock-heroic poem by Giulio Cesare Cortese narrates the uprising
of the "vaiasse" or Neapolitan servants, who want to marry against the will of their masters:

“…Then, to hold off until dusk,
They called someone with the buttafuoco…”

1574 Milan ‘The Graces of Love’ by Cesare Negri
"Contentment is represented by a young man and a lovely maiden, playing under the shade of an apple tree, both seated,
she with a small lamb in her lap. ... A shepherd followed with a buttafuoco."

1587 Florence "A buttafuoco with it’s general's drumstick"
State Archives: Medici Wardrobe, 132 c.112

1621 Florence "An old buttafuoco with it’s drumstick".
State Archives: Medici Wardrobe, 391/5 ff. 488-489

1622 Two inventories for the transfer of the Music Wardrobe from Antonio Naldi to Lorenzo Allegri, musician.
item: "An old Butta-fuoco, with it’s drumstick"
State Archives: Medici Wardrobe, 391/6 (1621), ff. 568-571 v

1627 Rome Inventory of assets
"…all of it was gathered in the house and garden to be inventoried.
In another nearby room were the musical instruments listed below. Art 603 A Buttafoco"
State Archives: 30 Capitoline Notaries, known as Paulus Vespignanus, office 28, vol. 138, ff.574' - 588 v: 602 v- 603'
belonging to the late Cardinal Francesco Maria Bourbon Del Monte (Venice, 1549-Rome, 1626)

1628 poem
“As we know, this custom is used on the occasion of weddings… Later, on the day that the engaged couple
are going to get married, once they return home, all the relatives and friends come, and with the buttafuoco,
the flute, and the harp they start dancing.”
‘The Vaiasseida’, by Giulio Cesare Cortese
"newly enriched with Annotations and Declarations on each Canto. With a Defense, in which it is maintained that it is a perfect Poem

1634-36 collection of fairy tales in Neapolitan dialect;
“Day Four: And suddenly a handful of servants, who knew how to arrange things, came quickly with the cymbals,
playing drums, morrielle, citharas, harps, jingle-jams, fire-pipes, tambourines, zithers, crocro, cacapenziere,
and zuchezuche, buttafuoco”

At lunchtime, they called for the musicians [recte;buttafuochi] and began to dance with great pleasure
having made a buttafuochi, beautiful sofronia and played the Tenare de l'Abbate, Ze- zuchizuchi
and, having performed fero, Cuccara Giammartino and the Ballo de Sruorendo…"

1635 Naples ‘The Neapolitan Muses’  by Giambattista Basile
ECLOGUE III, 101 -The Talia, or The Return
“that the Harpies come quickly to take something from the table; they live on swindling and robbery,
they are the fire-blowers and the fire-blowers. [vottafuoche  e rebecchine  / buttafuochi  e ribechini]

ECLOGUE IX, 157, 406 - Calliope, or Music.
“The concert was worth more….
The fire shovel with the siscariello, the buttafuoco with the whistle.
[lo  vottafuoco co lo siscariello,  il buttafuoco col fischiettino.]
… From the moment the child is born…
If he dies, he needs the trumpets; if he marries, he needs the Buttafuoco”

1650 Milan
Manfredo Settala (1600–1680), expanded and enriched a collection inherited from his father, establishing
a museum in his home. Catalogues published in 1664,1666 and 1677 contain detailed accounts and brief
notes provided by travellers, scholars and Settala's correspondents.
Estense Library: Settaliano Museum, Campori manuscripts H 1.22, c. 34

1664 "Buttafuoco jokingly called Buttajùoco also known to non-Africans"
1666 "A buttafuoco instrument known to Africans and much visited among Calabrians" [southern Italy]
1677 "Second edition updated with the additions that had enriched the Settala Museum in the meantime.
Regarding the buttafuoco, the text of the first edition is exactly repeated"

PIETRO FRANCESCO SCARABELLI, Collection or Gallery assembled from the knowledge and study of Canon Manfredo Settala,
a nobleman of Milan. Musical Instruments, Rare, and Curious: 334

"Libro per scriver l'intavolatura per sonare sopra le sordelline," by Giovanni Lorenzo Baldano, 1600 [translated by google]