The place and the day of his birth are unknown. He is considered to be the forefather of the luthiery tradition of Cremona.
He was supposed to have been apprentice of the convert jew Giovanni Leonardo da Martinengo with his hypothetical brother Antonio, but this theory has no historical foundation and no documentary evidence.
The interpretation according to which the two servants, included in Giovanni Leonardo's house in the population census of 1526, were two brothers who served as “shop boys” for the luthier is philologically stretched.
Moreover, the names “Andrea” and “Antonio” were very popular in Cremona at that time and they could refer to any inhabitant of the town.
Andrea Amati lived in Cremona, in Saint Helen parish, until 1539, when he rent a house in the Cutlers Street in Saints Faustino and Giovita parish, where he lived and worked.
Among the many instruments ascribed to him, there are some patterned with emblems and mottos of Charles IX, King of France from 1560 to 1574. Those instruments were supposed to be part of the collection called “Les violons du Roi” (“The King's Violins”), but it has been proved that this name referred to the musicians of the orchestra, not to their instruments (cf. “Les violons de Charles IX": 1. François Lesure, La commande à Andrea Amati: parcours d'une légende obstinée. 2. Karel Moens, Analyse des instruments conservée. In: Musique Image Instruments, 5, 2003, whose theories are refuted by several publications).
He was buried in Saint Domenico's Church on the 24th of December 1577. His sons Antonio and Gerolamo carried on together with the activity of their father's atelier.