A fretted, stringed instrument, sometimes known as the tenor mandola, it is the ancestor of the mandolin (the name of which simply means 'little mandola'). It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the 4 double courses of metal strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola [CGDA], with the "C" course a fifth below a mandolin.

It is commonly used in folk music - particularly in Italy. It is sometimes played in Irish traditional music, but the octave mandola (or mandolin), Irish bouzouki, and modern cittern are more commonly used.