Situation
The provincial capital of Cremona lies in the fertile North Italian plain just north of the Po, near the mouth of the River Adda, some 70km/43mi southeast of Milan, the capital of Lombardy.
Violin-makers
The town is world-famed for the violin
-makers who worked here, particularly in the 16th-18th centuries. The violins made by Niccolò Amati, Antonio Stradivari, Guarneri de Gesù and other violin- makers are famous for their sound. Today efforts are made to perpetuate this musical tradition by means of concerts, etc. In Cremona there is an Institute of Professional Violin Makers, and in the cultural center exhibitions on the same theme are held. Cremona was also the birthplace of the composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). There is a musical college named after him.
History
The Gallic settlement on this site became a Roman colony in 218 B.C., and in later centuries suffered destruction on many occasions - by Vespasian's army (in A.D. 70), by the Goths and the Lombards, and during the struggle between Guelfs and Ghibelines. The town was an important base of the emperor Frederick II. In 1334 it passed to Milan. Piazza del Comune