Cremona
[key], city, capital of Cremona prov., Lombardy, N Italy, on the Po River.
It is an agricultural market and an industrial center that produces
processed food and fabricated metals. Originally (3d cent. b.c.) a
Roman colony, Cremona was in the Middle Ages an independent commune
frequently at war with Milan until its surrender to that city in 1344. It
was known in the Middle Ages as a center of learning, in the late
Renaissance for a school of painting founded (16th cent.) by Giulio
Campi, and later
(17th–18th cent.) for the violins made by the Amati, the Guarneri, the Stradivari, and their successors.
(Cremona continues to be a center for high-quality violins to this day.) The
cathedral (12th–16th cent.), the tall campanile, the baptistery, the
city hall (13th cent.), and the Soldiers' Loggia (13th cent.) adorn
Cremona's impressive main square.
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