We arrived in Cremona a little late to see the place properly, but our hotel was right next to the main square, so we did have enough time to mosey around a little. Here is that square.
Cremona is probably not on many people’s ‘must see’ lists, and we certainly didn’t plan to go there, but it turns out that the city has a little history. It was an important Roman city (on the road from Genoa to Aquileia, the latter of which you’ll see in my next post) and the hometown of Stradavari, the guy who made all those million dollar violins. We saw many luthiers (my new word of the day!) around the old town, so I guess the tradition lives on.
Here’s another square in town.
And more groovy Italian peddle parking.
At night we ate well, as was the case every night in Italy (you really have to go and see what kind of crap you are eating back home and thinking it’s pizza and pasta!). Thanks to Shoko for thinking of taking pictures of our food – something that never seems to cross my mind.
The Vicious Cycle 
And not just Stradivari, but Amati and Guarnieri and dozens of othres less celebrated. In fact there were so many luthiers there that a town I once visited in Germany has a thriving violin industry because the local mines ran out in the early 18th century, so they sent the cream of their young men to Cremona to learn a new trade. They came back, set up shop, and the tradition continues today.
Of course, I don’t have to go to Cremona: I’ve got a luthier’s workshop right outside the window by my desk here, and they make bows, too. Saturday a young woman with a *very* expensive-looking old cello was trying out bows with Bach suites. Not the usual kind of noisy neighbors!