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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