Cremona, Italy

It has been over a month since I was in Cremona, but I think I can cover the highlights.  We were there on July 15th.

This is a photo of the Torrazzo next to the Duomo di Cremona.  It is the tallest pre-modern tower in Italy. I climbed to the top...I think it was about 500 steps and it was warm that day.  The wind at the top was very powerful.

Here is an up close photo of the clock on the Torrazzo.  This is the larges astronomical clock in the world built in the 1580s.  It shows not only day and time, but date, as well as sun and moon location and probably more.  It was impressive.

 

Here is the view from the top of the Torrazzo.  Like I said earlier it was windy and it was like standing in a bird cage at the top.  

These two instruments were at the Stradivari Museum.  I believe that I collected the correct photos here.  John would be able to confirm.  The first one is the Hellier Stradivari violin (1679) and the second one is the Sunrise Stradivari violin (1677).  They have been consigned to the Stradivari Foundation in Cremona as part of its "Friends of Stradivari" project and is on display at the Museo Civico in Cremona

While in Cremona we had a private tour guide.  She showed us around the city as well as a few different collections that have important instruments.  She also scheduled a handful of visits with local makers.  There are 130 string instrument makers in Cremona and the city itself is only about ~75,000 people.  That has to be the largest per capita violin maker population in the world!!  This photo was taken at the shop of Stefano Conia and son.  We meet the son also Stefano Conia.  

  

We were there on a Sunday when nothing was open.  In Italy nearly everything closes on Sunday and Monday.  We struggled just to find lunch...I never would have guessed that the population was 75,000 on that day because it felt more like a population of 5,000.  We saw this on our way out of town.  A Pharmacy vending machine!!