Things to See in Cremona | 2 Monuments & Landmarks

All the monuments in Cremona

The landmarks and masterpieces worth planning a day around.

Cremona's cathedral facade beside the Torrazzo, Italy's tallest brick tower

Duomo di Cremona e TorrazzoCremona Cathedral and TorrazzoTorrazzo (112.5 m), astronomical clock, Romanesque facade, nave fresco cycles, baptisteryCremona's cathedral pairs a Romanesque marble facade with the Torrazzo, the tower beside it: at 112.5 meters, the tallest historic brick bell tower in Italy, finished with its marble spire in 1309. On its fourth level is the astronomical clock made between 1583 and 1588 by the Divizioli, 8.2 meters across, which shows the zodiac, the phases of the moon and the solstices; you can climb 502 steps between two concentric towers to a panoramic terrace. Inside the cathedral, Renaissance fresco cycles by Boccaccino, Pordenone and others cover the nave, among the finest in Lombardy. It is the centerpiece of a piazza that also holds the baptistery and the loggia.Plan the visit

Museo del ViolinoHidden GemViolin MuseumStradivari and Amati originals, luthier tradition, listening room, live recitalsCremona invented the violin in the sixteenth century and never stopped making them: roughly 150 workshops in the city still practice the craft today. The Museo del Violino, set in the restored Palazzo dell'Arte on Piazza Marconi, gathers instruments by Amati, Guarneri del Gesu and Antonio Stradivari, the three families who defined how a violin should sound. Rather than sealing the collection behind glass forever, the museum has its prized instruments played on rotation, often in the Auditorium Giovanni Arvedi, so the wood keeps vibrating the way its makers intended. A listening room lets visitors compare recordings of different instruments side by side, a rare chance to hear the difference a few centuries and a few millimeters of arching can make.

The Cremona guide

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Monuments a day trip away, elsewhere in Lombardy.

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