Cremona

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.

 

The violin of Cremona

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.

 

Sights

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.

 

Shopping

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.

 

How to have fun

Night clubs
Hobos Cocktails & Spirits, Piazza Della Pace, 21/A. Wed-Sun 7pm-2am.

 

Getting here

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

 

Where to eat

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.

 

Where stay

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.

 

Around

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.

 

Geography

Territory

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.

 

Climate

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.

 

Origins of the name

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.

 

History

Roman period

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.

 

Early medieval 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.

 

Medieval period

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.

 

Cremona in the Duchy of Milan

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.

 

Foreign occupations

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.

 

After the unification of Italy

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.

 

Culture

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.

 

Museums

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

 

Media

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).

 

Cuisine

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.

 

Music

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 .

 

Cinema and Television

Cremona has been used for some scenes of various movies and TV series such as:

 

Cinema

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)

 

Events

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.

 

Economy

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.