Cremona (Cremùna in the Cremonese dialect) is an Italian town of 71 428 inhabitants, the capital of the province of the same name in Lombardy. Known for its traditional violin craftsmanship, the city is located in the center of the Po Valley, not far from the banks of the Po river.
Cremona is famous in world musical history of all time for being the birthplace of Claudio Monteverdi, one of the fathers of modern melodrama. In addition to Monteverdi, Cremona also saw the birth of the composer Amilcare Ponchielli and can boast the most important heritage in the world for violin making (already starting with Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù, Amati) with over two hundred workshops of master luthiers that make it the center leader in the world for the construction of bowed and stringed instruments. In 2012, UNESCO included the traditional craftsmanship of the violin in Cremona among the oral and intangible heritages of humanity.
How to orient yourself
The center of the city is the Piazza del
Comune, with the Torrazzo, the Cathedral, the Baptistery and the Palazzo
del Comune.
1 Torrazzo, Piazza del Comune. €5 (full price) €4 (students and over
65s). 10-12:30 14:30-17:40. One of the many characteristic symbols of
this city. 112 meters high and with 502 steps to climb in order to
admire the wonderful view that this bell tower offers, it is the tallest
masonry tower in Italy. It was built between 1230 and 1309. The
astronomical clock dates from 1583.
2 Cathedral, Piazza del Comune.
Mon-Sun 8:00-12:00 and 15:30-19:00. Construction of the cathedral began
in 1107. An earthquake in 1117 caused the new building to collapse.
Construction continued in 1129 and the cathedral was inaugurated in
1190. The bell tower, known as the Torrazzo, stands somewhat to one
side. The facade was completed in the 15th century.
3 Baptistery,
Piazza del Comune. €3 (full price) €2 (students - over 65). 10-12:30
14:30-17:40. The octagonal baptistery was built in 1167. The baptismal
font dates back to the 16th century.
4 Palazzo del Comune, Piazza del
Comune.
5 Loggia dei Militi, Piazza del Comune.
6 Church of S.
Agostino, Via Plasio.
7 Palazzo Fodri (Palazzo Affaitati), Via
Matteotti.
8 Violin Museum, Piazza Guglielmo Marconi, 5, ☎ +39 0372
801801, fax: +39 0372 801888, info@museodelviolino.org. Full: €12,
reduced: €8 (Feb 2020). Wed-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat-Sun 10am-6pm. Museum
dedicated to one of the most beautiful instruments in the world: the
violin, in particular those made by the great Antonio Stradivari, a
personality strongly linked to Cremona.
In the city there are many streets where you can find historic shops,
including: Corso Garibaldi and Corso Campi.
Sperlari, Via
Solferino 25, ☎ +39 0372 22346. Tue-Fri: 8:30-12:30, 15:30-19:30;
Sat-Sun: 9:00-13:00, 15:30-19:30. edit
Ferrari goldsmith's shop,
Corso Garibaldi 103, ☎ +39 0372 23836. edit
1 Vergani, Corso
Matteotti 112, ☎ +39 0372 23967. Mon: 8:15-12:45, Tue-Sat: 8:15-12:45,
15:30-19:30.
Night clubs
Hobos Cocktails & Spirits, Piazza Della Pace, 21/A.
Wed-Sun 7pm-2am.
By plane
Milan Linate Airport (80km away)
Bergamo-Orio al Serio
Bergamo Airport (80 km away)
Montichiari Airport (47 km away)
Parma airport (65km away).
By car
A21 Piacenza-Cremona
motorway
A1 Milano-Napoli motorway, Casalpusterlengo exit, follow the
SP234 to Cremona
On the train
railway station - Via Dante 68
Cremona is a city where for centuries breeding and cultivation have
given life to exceptional products, the basis of the cuisine. We are on
the border between Lombardy and Emilia and the cuisine contains the best
of both gastronomies.
Cured meats, among which IGP salami, garlic
salami and Cremonese cotechino stand out. The first classic is the
marubini, tortelli cooked in the broth of three different meats: veal,
beef and chicken with a variant of fresh salami. Pumpkin tortelli always
triumph among the first courses, enriched here with a sweet and sour
touch by the suggestive presence of amaretti biscuits. A single winter
dish, greedy and fat, is the Gran Bollito from Cremona, where the pieces
of meat for the broth are the best. Cooked meat dishes include the
famous Cremona mostarda, candied fruit with added mustard. Among the
cheeses we have Grana, Provolone, Stracchino and Pannerone. The typical
dessert of the Lombard city is nougat. It seems that it was born to
celebrate the wedding between Bianca Visconti and Francesco Sforza in
the Church of San Sigismondo (1642) and since then it has traveled the
world. Visit Vergari and Sperlari, two historic shops. The nougat is the
star of a big party in October.
If you are passing through
Cremona during the grape harvest, do not miss a slice of Bertolina cake
made with strawberry grapes. Always typical is the Sbrizulusa, a very
close relative of the better known Sbrisolona from nearby Mantua. don't
miss a slice of Bertolina cake made with strawberry grapes.
Modest prices
McDonald's Cremona Drive, Via Gazzoletto 4, ☎ +39 346
3014133. Sun-Tue, Thu: 07:00 - 01:00 , Wed: 07:00 - 05:00 , Fri-Sat:
24h. Restaurant, McDrive, McCafé
McDonald's Cremona Po, Via
Castelleone 10, ☎ +39 0372 801195. Mon-Sun: 09:00-23:00.
Average
prices
1 La Bersagliera pizza restaurant, Piazza Risorgimento, 17, ☎
+39 0372 21397.
2 Vecchia Osteria L'Oca Bianca, Via Ferruccio
Ghinaglia, 46, ☎ +39 349 3950700.
3 Trattoria La Piccola, Via Dante,
80, ☎ +39 0372 38233. , 26100 Cremona CR
4 El Sorbir restaurant, Via
Dante, 145, ☎ +39 0372 37857.
5 Hosteria 700, Piazza Alessandro
Gallina, 1.
6 Trattoria Cerri, Piazza Giovanni XXIII, 3, ☎ +39 0372
22796.
7 Osteria del Melograno, Via E. Beltrami, 5, ☎ +39 0372 31863.
8 Cremonese pizza restaurant, Piazza Roma, 39, ☎ +39 0372 20636.
9
Central restaurant, Vicolo Pertusio, 4, ☎ +39 0372 28701.
10 La Botte
Tavern, Via Porta Marzia, 5, ☎ +39 0372 29640.
Average prices
1 Hotel Impero, Piazza Della Pace, 21, ☎ +39 0372
413013.
2 Hotel Duomo, Via Del Gonfalonieri, 13, ☎ +39 0372 35242.
3 Hotel Astoria, Via Bordigallo, 19, ☎ +39 0372 461616.
Casalbuttano
Piacenza - Emilian but also a little Lombard, road
and railway junction on the right bank of the Po, retains a beautiful
historic center with considerable monuments - the Town Hall (Gothic),
the Cathedral - and an elegant urban layout. It was co-capital of the
Duchy of Parma and Piacenza.
Itineraries
Cremona is part of
the Cremonese Taste Road in the land of Stradivari, a food and wine
tourist promotion route, approximately 560 kilometers long and
recognized by the Lombardy Region, which winds through the province of
Cremona over an area of 115 municipalities, touching among these:
Rivolta d 'Adda, Spino d'Adda, Soncino, Crema, Castelleone, Soresina,
Casalbuttano, Robecco d'Oglio, Pescarolo ed Uniti, Isola Dovarese,
Piadena, Torricella del Pizzo, Rivarolo del Re and Casalmaggiore.
In
the lands of the Gonzagas - An itinerary through the towns, large and
small, which were capitals of the younger Gonzaga branches:
principalities, marquisates, duchies which, within the Mantuan state
structure, enjoyed real independence, often minted coins and they held
refined courts that rivaled that of Mantua, embellished their urban
centers by equipping them with elegant architecture - churches, squares,
palaces, walls, towers - and with characteristic urban views such as the
typical Gonzaga porticoes.
Via Postumia — This is the itinerary of
the ancient Roman consular road, which winds through Liguria, Piedmont,
Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
Cremona is located in southern Lombardy, in contact with the river Po. It is about 30 km from Piacenza in Emilia-Romagna, 65 km from Mantua, 50 km from Lodi, 50 km from Brescia, 56 km from Parma in Emilia-Romagna, 75 km from Bergamo and 85 km from Milan. The area of the municipal territory is 70.4 km², the average altitude of 45 m s.l.m.
On the basis of the average of the thirty-year reference period 1961-1990, the average temperature in the month of January, the coldest, is +1.7 ° C; that of the month of July, the hottest, is +24.3 ° C. Average annual rainfall is around 750 mm, distributed on average over 76 days, with a peak in the autumn season and relative minimums in winter and summer.
The toponym is of uncertain origin, but it seems pre-Roman, perhaps Gallic (from the Cenomani), linked to the prelatin variant "carm" of the term "carra", ie stone, rock, and by the common prelatin suffix -ona. From Mario Monteverdi's book La Storia di Cremona published in 1955 by the local newspaper La Provincia, according to Sicardo a certain Brimonio, a Trojan, escaped from his destroyed homeland and founded Brimonia, which over time became Cremona. For someone else the founder was the alleged companion of Paris, Cremone.
It was fortified by the Romans in 218 BC. by 6,000
colonists as an advanced castrum on the banks of the Po, when the
Romans learned of Hannibal's advance from Spain towards Italy.
From its river port, which was located along the river Po
(lat.Padus), began the Via Regina, a Roman road that connected
Cremona with Clavenna (Chiavenna) passing through Mediolanum
(Milan), a Roman consular road that connected the port river of
Cremona with Lake Garda (lat.Gardae lacus, also called Benacus
lacus), which ran along to the west, continuing then up to Arco
(lat.Arci Castrum), in today's Trentino (lat. Tridentinum), and the
road Brixiana, a Roman consular road that connected the river port
of Cremona (lat. Cremona) with Brescia (lat. Brixia), from which
several Roman roads passed that branched off towards the whole of
Gallia Cisalpina (lat. Gallia Cisalpina). In Roman times, Cremona
was also the end of the secondary branch of the via
Mediolanum-Placentia which branched off from Laus Pompeia (Lodi
Vecchio).
The best known legend has it that the city was
founded by Hercules. It was actually founded during the Republican
period and immediately became a vital center of the Po area, with an
amphitheater for playful games, a forum and monumental thermal
baths. In 69 A.D. it was besieged and destroyed by Vespasian's
troops and then rebuilt with his help. For a long time the city
disappeared from the chronicles of history, mentioned only in a few
documents or named for the provenance of some historical figure.
It was the seat of a river port and crossed by the Via Postumia
which connected Aquileia to Genoa crossing the Po near the ancient
settlement. The road in the late Roman period progressively lost
importance but the city kept the river port, attested until the late
ancient period.
In 603 Cremona, a
Byzantine bulwark, was conquered by the Lombards who dismembered the
territory, perhaps already partially conquered previously. In this
period in Cremona some Lombard families ruled, including the
Colleoni, the Crotti, the Suardi. The city ruled by the bishop did
not become the seat of a duchy and even after the Carolingian
conquest the bishop count maintained and expanded his control over
the city and the countryside.
On May 25 of the year 825 the
emperor Lothair I promulgated the capitular of Corteolona who
established the imperial schools: so in addition to Pavia capital of
the Kingdom of Italy, Cremona also had the school of law, rhetoric
and liberal arts, inheriting the tradition of the school of law,
founded by the Roman emperor Theodosius I; the students of Piacenza,
Parma, Reggio and Modena also depended on the Cremona branch.
Between the twentieth century and one thousand the city
increased its power, thanks to important concessions to the rector
bishops of the city. Among others distinguished Liutprand, who was
called to the imperial court in Saxony, while remaining bishop, and
Olderico, who managed to obtain important privileges for the city
from Emperor Otto III.
It was the bishops Lamberto and Ubaldo
who created disagreements with the Cremonese population for the
management of the properties of the Monastery of San Lorenzo. The
mediation of Emperor Conrad II was necessary who in 1037, having
settled in the city, gave refuge to Pope Benedict IX, the little
pope.
With the emperor Henry IV the city refused to pay the oppressive
taxes that the empire required and that the bishop count imposed on
the citizens. Thus was born the narration of the legendary battle
between Prince Enrico and Giovanni Baldesio (Zanén de la Bàla), the
city's gonfaloniere major. Tradition has it that Zanén managed to
unseat the prince, sparing the city the payment of the golden ball
(the "bàla") of about three kilos that the city owed to the emperor
every year and which was donated to Berta for that year , the
knight's fiancée, as a dowry for her wedding. To this legend is
added a historical news of a few years later. The city coat of arms
recalls this episode, with Baldesio's arm holding up the golden ball
of tribute, with the motto bearing the phrase "my strength lies in
my arm" in late Latin (fortitudo mea in brachio).
In 1093 an
anti-imperial military alliance was formed headed by Matilde di
Canossa, who had numerous possessions straddling the Po, in which
Lodi, Milan, Cremona, Piacenza participated. The conflict was
resolved with the oath of obedience by Emperor Henry IV to Pope
Urban II and with the donation in 1098 of the Insula Fulcheria
(corresponding today to the Crema area) to the city of Cremona which
with this deed became a free municipality , becoming one of the
richest, most powerful and populous cities in Northern Italy.
Starting from 1093 the municipality fought with the neighboring
municipalities to expand and defend its territory. The wars were
numerous and often victorious as in 1107 for the possession of
Tortona or in 1111 which instead marked a defeat near Bressanoro. In
this period the city had strong internal divisions between the part
of the city linked to the Ghibellines, the old city, and the part
linked to the Guelphs, the new city. The conflict reached the point
of creating two municipal buildings with the construction of the
Palazzo Cittanova, which still exists.
With the descent of
Barbarossa, the city allied itself with the emperor who supported
Cremona against the revolt of Crema, aided by the Milanese in their
claim to independence. Victory and loyalty to the empire allowed the
municipality to mint coins and therefore to create its own mint
authorized by an imperial bull.
In 1160 Cremona reconquered
Crema and, supporting the emperor, attacked Milan and destroyed it
(1162). The city was entrusted with the area of Porta Romana in
Milan.
It was only in 1167 that the city sided with the other
Italian municipalities against the empire, becoming part of the
Lombard League, which on 29 May 1176 defeated the imperial troops in
Legnano. The union did not last long and the cities clashed again in
1213 in Castelleone where the Cremonese defeated a Milanese league
made up of the municipalities of Lodi, Piacenza, Crema, Novara, Como
and the support of the Brescians. In 1232 the bond began between
Cremona and the emperor Federico II called into question in a power
dispute within the city. In 1225 Frederick II of Swabia convened the
Diet of Cremona in the city, leading to the birth of the second
Lombard league. The new alliance with the empire led to victory in
the battle of Cortenuova against the Lombard League. Frederick II
often brought his court to the city and the only unfortunate episode
was the defeat by the Parmesan in Vittoria, city created by
Frederick II, which saw the capture of more than two thousand
Cremonese.
A few years later, the retaliation against the
Parma citizens was very harsh: they were defeated by Oberto II
Pallavicino, their carroccio was stolen from them and the trousers
of some of them remained hung for a long time in the cathedral of
Cremona as a derision.
On 1 November 1266 Oberto II Pallavicino was driven out of the
city and with him the Ghibelline government fell. In his place,
another Ghibelline took power, Buoso da Dovara, who ceded it to the
Consorzio di Pace e Fede, which managed it until 31 December 1270.
The following year the figure of Captain of the People was
established, who assumed, on the Guelph, the municipal powers. In
1276 Cremona passed to the lordship of the Marquis Cavalcabò, who
directed its fortunes until 1305. His son Guglielmo Cavalcabò
inherited its powers until 1310.
Numerous building works were
carried out in this period: the Torrazzo belfry and its octagonal
garland with spire, the Romanesque church of S. Francesco, the
transepts of the cathedral and the Loggia dei Militi. Also dating to
the same period are numerous agricultural arrangements, including
the creation of irrigation canals in the area with an agricultural
vocation; an example for all was the construction of the Dugale
Delmona, datable to the early fourteenth century.
Starting
from 1311 the lordship of the Cavalcabò alternated with lords
external to the Cremonese families of the Guelph party. Among these
were the Ghibelline Arrigo VII of Luxembourg, in 1311, Giberto III
da Correggio, in 1312, and Robert of Puglia in 1313. With the end of
the lordship of Giacomo Cavalcabò on 29 November 1322, another
Lombard family entered the scene: the Visconti, with Galeazzo I, who
will influence the history of the city for one hundred and fifty
years.
The city was governed by the Visconti alternating with
important political figures on the European scene of the time, such
as Ludovico il Bavaro, emperor in 1327, and John of Luxembourg, king
of Bohemia in 1331, until 1403. In that year there was the
reconquest of the lordship by the Cavalcabò family, which did not
last long. On 25 July 1406 Cabrino Fondulo, captain of Ugolino
Cavalcabò's troops, deceived the males of the Cavalcabò family,
assuming lordship of the city. Unable to manage power, he retired to
Castelleone in exchange for 40,000 gold florins paid by the Visconti
family.
In 1406 the lordship passed to Filippo Maria
Visconti, who made it hereditary. Cremona with this deed entered the
Duchy of Milan and followed its fortunes until the unification of
Italy.
Under the Viscontis first and then the Sforzas Cremona
underwent an intense cultural and religious development. In 1411
Palazzo Cittanova became the seat of the University of Moleskin
Merchants. In 1441 the city was chosen to celebrate the wedding
between Francesco I Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti, on 25 October,
in the small temple built by the Benedictines, replaced by the
church of S. Sigismondo built in a slightly later period. It is said
that in the wedding banquet of Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria
Visconti nougat was served for the first time, which is now one of
the best-known products of Cremona; but it is not a question of
historical truth, nor of ancient tradition, as it is instead a happy
publicity stunt of the Cremona confectionery industry of the early
twentieth century.
Ludovico il Moro also financed important
city works for the cathedral, such as the elevation of the pediment
and the construction of the portico called the Bertazzola, the
partial marble cladding of the baptistery, the reconstruction of the
facade of the church of S. Agata and the Palazzo Comunale.
In
1446, Cremona was surrounded by the troops of Francesco Piccinino
and Luigi dal Verme. The Venetians sent Scaramuccia da Forlì to his
aid, who managed to overcome the siege, causing the failure of the
two leaders' enterprise and freeing the city.
In fact, with the war between Ludovico il Moro and the France of
Louis XII, Cremona passed for a short period under the Republic of
Venice, from 1499 to 1509. The victory of the league at Agnadello
brought Cremona back to the Duchy of Milan, ruled by the French of Louis
XII , on May 11, 1509.
The ups and downs between Spain, France,
the Republic of Venice and, in the person of Massimiliano Sforza, the
Duchy of Milan, ended with the Treaty of Noyon of 1516 which sanctioned
the exile of the Duke of Milan. The conquest of the city by the
Spaniards took place in 1524 with the taking of the Castle of Santa
Croce. The final French defeat and the expulsion of the troops from the
Duchy of Milan were sanctioned in January 1526 by the Treaty of Madrid.
Against the Habsburgs, the Republic of Venice, in the League of Cognac,
then moved its troops, led by Michael Gaismair, to reconquer Cremona on
26 September 1526. But the defeat of Giovanni dalle Bande Nere at
Governolo opened the road that led the lansquenets to sack Rome.
Cremona, although dozing and resigned to the raids and changes of the
victorious troops, did not lose interest in the artistic embellishment
of the city. An example is the construction of the loggia built, in
Bramante style, on the portico on the facade of the Cathedral
(Bertazzola) by Lorenzo Trotti.
In 1546 the dukedom passed to
Philip II, king of Spain and future heir to the imperial title; a long
period of domination begins for Cremona and Lombardy in general which
will tend to subtract resources without reinvesting in the
infrastructural and productive works of the territory. The artistic
works will continue to be commissioned for religious buildings and for
the palaces of the new Spanish aristocracy and the old Cremonese
aristocracy. In 1550 Lorenzo Trotti completed the loggia on the right
side of the Cathedral, in 1614 the church of Santi Siro e Sepolcro was
rebuilt to a design by Antonio Gialdini.
The Po River and
Cremona in the 18th century
At the end of the seventeenth century the
Spanish inability to manage the territory after the famine (1628) and
the plague (1630), combined with the interest of the house of Austria
for northern Italy, led first to the French conquest on 9 February 1701,
then to the Austrian one of 10 April 1707. The foreign domination was
ratified in 1714 by the Peace of Utrecht.
Cremona followed the events of Lombardy in the 18th and 19th
centuries and those of the unification of Italy.
Between the two
world wars, Cremona's fascism "was inextricably linked to the name of
Roberto Farinacci, the undisputed leader. And since Farinacci also
represented the national point of reference for the revolutionary,
intransigent and squadrist wing of fascism, which throughout the twenty
years intertwined with the political story of Benito Mussolini and the
PNF, made up of repeated and often violent clashes with other hierarchs
and with the head of government, the history of Cremona from 1922 to
1943 was affected by this peculiar "exposure" to national dynamics".
At the institutional referendum of 1946 the Republic obtained more
than 70.2% of the votes against only 29.7% for the monarchy.
University
The city, together with Piacenza, is home to one of the
campuses of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart; the University
of Cremona has two faculties: Economics and Law; Agricultural, food and
environmental sciences. Cremona is one of the territorial poles of the
Milan Polytechnic, active with computer engineering and management
engineering courses, and is also home to the health professions degree
courses set up by the University of Brescia: Health care; Nursing and
Physiotherapy. The didactic offer is completed thanks to the Department
of Musicology and Cultural Heritage - and related Faculties - of the
University of Pavia and finally the Claudio Monteverdi Higher Institute
of Musical Studies.
The city's cultural center is also rich, making use of notable museum
institutions such as:
Museum of the upside down city, inaugurated in
1999 thanks to Mario Lodi
the Ala Ponzone Civic Museum
the
Stradivari Museum
the Museum of peasant civilization
the Berenzean
Museum
the Pinacoteca of the civic museum
the Natural History
Museum
the Archaeological Museum
the Violin Museum
The main newspaper for circulation in Cremona is La Provincia. The
Chronicle was published from 1993 to 2012. The Voice of Cremona was
published from 2001 to 2006. In 1981 the weekly Mondo Padano was born.
There is also the weekly Il Piccolo (born in 2003) and two online
newspapers: CremonaOggi and Welfare Cremona Network.
The
television stations of Cremona are TeleColor, Studio1 and Cremona1 (born
in 2013).
The radio stations in Cremona are the following:
Antenna radio 5;
Radio Viva FM;
RCN (Radio Cittanova, of the
diocesan centre).
Cremona owes many ingredients of its typical dishes to the presence
of the Po, an important fluvial route for trade and commerce. The use of
almonds, candied fruit, used in the very cremona clover honey, the sweet
and sour taste enhanced by the typical mustard are some of the legacies
of the commercial exchanges which, over the centuries, characterized the
Bassa, leaving a mark on the culture cuisine of Cremona.
Among
the first courses, the marubini are the most typical preparation and are
served in broth, preferably made up of three broths combined (hen, beef,
pot salami).
The typical dessert of Cremona is nougat, a mixture
of egg whites, honey and sugar, stuffed with almonds, walnuts, peanuts
or hazelnuts and often covered with two wafers. Also typical of the
Cremona area is the Sbrizulusa, a dry cake of corn and wheat flour mixed
with lard, lemon zest and a teaspoon of liqueur. Equally typical is the
"Pan Cremona", a soft almond flour cake covered in chocolate.
Another dessert is the pattona (patùna in Cremonese dialect), i.e. a
cake made with chestnut flour, also called castagnaccio in Italian.
In 2012, UNESCO included the traditional craftsmanship of the violin
in Cremona among the oral and intangible heritages of humanity. Cremona
is famous throughout the world's musical history for being the
birthplace of Claudio Monteverdi, one of the fathers of modern melodrama
and to whom the city's Conservatory is named. In addition to Monteverdi,
Cremona also saw the birth of the composer Amilcare Ponchielli and can
boast the most important heritage in the world for violin making
(already starting with Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù, Amati) with over
two hundred workshops of master luthiers that make it the center leader
in the world for the construction of bowed and stringed instruments.
In 2015 the Stauffer Foundation, one of the main private
institutions in Cremona, acquired the property of Palazzo Stradiotti, a
historic building which, after major recovery and restoration works, was
returned to the city as Palazzo Stauffer. Palazzo Stauffer is now home
to the Stauffer Center for String, the first international music center
entirely dedicated to stringed instruments, inaugurated in 2021. This
innovative multifunctional campus houses the historic Stauffer Academy
and the Stauffer Labs, creative and innovation departments .
Cremona has been used for some scenes of various movies and TV series such as:
Novecento, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci (1976)
Stradivari,
directed by Giacomo Battiato (1988)
The Red Violin, directed by
François Girard (1998)
Ask me if I'm happy, directed by Aldo,
Giovanni and Giacomo and Massimo Venier (2000)
The taxidermist,
directed by Matteo Garrone (2002)
The fever, directed by Alessandro
D'Alatri (2005)
Television
Verdi, directed by Renato Castellani
(1982)
The Lady of the Camellias, directed by Lodovico Gasparini
(2005)
Festivals and fairs
Traditionally, the "Fiera di San Pietro" sees
the installation of games and attractions in an area near the river Po
throughout the month of June. In November, the event "Cremona la Dolce -
Festa del Nougat" is held, with historical processions and events
related to the historical re-enactment of the wedding of Bianca Maria
Visconti and Francesco Sforza, celebrated in Cremona on 25 October 1441.
The international zootechnical fairs of Cremona are also held in the
city, a professional trade fair event dedicated to the world of cattle,
pig and poultry farming and to energy from agro-zootechnical sources.
Another important international exhibition, flanked by a prestigious
festival, is Cremona Musica, an international event which at the end of
September becomes a point of reference for luthiers, musicians and
lovers of stringed instruments, piano, classical guitar and wind
instruments.
In 2022 the Stauffer Summer Music Festival was born,
an international review, conceived and promoted by the Stauffer
Foundation, to celebrate the different musical cultures of the world
with international artists and young students of the Stauffer Academy as
protagonists, in an exceptional location: the Garden of Palazzo
Stauffer, the headquarters of the Stauffer Center for Strings, the first
international music center entirely dedicated to stringed instruments.
The city's economy is linked to the mainly agricultural provincial
production system. In addition to the farms, there are important Italian
food industries: cured meats (Negroni), sweets (Sperlari, Vergani,
Barilla - Mulino Bianco), vegetable oils (Oleificio Zucchi), cheeses
(Auricchio).
There is also the engineering industry (Arvedi
steelworks, Off. Mecc. Feraboli, Parmigiani Macchine and OCRIM), oil
(former Tamoil refinery, now used as a warehouse, headquarters and
Keropetrol warehouse), energy (LGH), telecommunications (A2A Smart City
).
Cremona craftsmanship is characterized by the luthiers'
workshops, specialized in the production of stringed instruments,
recognized worldwide for the quality of the instruments produced and
which are linked to the figures of Stradivari, Guarneri and Amati. The
culture of traditional Cremonese violin making was inscribed on 5
December 2012 in the representative list of the intangible cultural
heritage of UNESCO.
Furthermore, the ancient workings of ceramics
and porcelain are still widespread and renowned.
Cremona is also
known as a producer of sweets, with its famous nougat, terracotta
material and other objects.
The canal port is useful for the
landing of the barges that travel along the Po river. The canal, which
from Cremona was supposed to reach Milan, stops after only 20 km, in
Pizzighettone.