Cremona

Town in Lombardy, Italy, on the River Po, 72 km/45 mi southeast of Milan; population (2001) 70,900. Traditionally a violinmaking centre, it also produces food products and textiles. It has a 12th-century cathedral, linked to a 13th-century campanile (bell-tower), which is 111 m/364 ft high and the tallest in Italy.

Cremona was founded in 218 BC as a Roman colony, together with Placentia, to command Cisalpine Gaul. It was destroyed by Vespasian in 69, by the Goths in 540, and by the Lombards in 605. It passed into the possession of the Visconti in the 14th century, and in 1535 came under Spanish control. In 1814 it became Austrian, and in 1859 Italian.

The cathedral contains paintings, tapestries and sculptures. There are many old churches, as well as palaces, museums, libraries, and art galleries. From the 16th to 17th centuries the town produced a notable school of painters, including Girolamo Romanino and Boccaccio Boccacino, both of whom worked on the cathedral's frescoes.

Cremona's violins were highly acclaimed from the 16th to 18th centuries. Figures associated with the industry include Antonio Stradivari (Stradivarius), and the Amati and Guarneri families. The International School of Violin Making at the Livteria School in Piazza Marconi carries on this tradition.

Cremona was the birthplace of the composer Claudio Monteverdi in 1567, the mathematician Guido Grandi in 1671, and the mathematician Eugenio Beltrami in 1835.

Cremona

Province of northern Italy in southern Lombardy; capital Cremona; area 1,771 sq km/684 sq mi; population (2000 est) 334,300.