CREMONA

cremona, a city and episcopal see of lombardy, italy, the capital of the province of cremona, situated on the n. bank of the po, 155 ft. above sea-level, 60 m. by rail s.e. of milan. pop. (1901) town, 31,655; commune, 39,344. it is oval in shape, and retains its medieval fortifications. the line of the streets is as a rule irregular, but the town as a whole is not very picturesque. the finest building is the cathedral, in the lombard romanesque style, begun in 1107 and consecrated in 1190. the wheel window of the main facade dates from 1274. the transepts, added in the 13th and 14th centuries (before 1370), have picturesque brick facades, with fine terra-cotta ornamentation. the great torrazzo, a tower 397 ft. high, which stands by the cathedral, and is connected with it by a series of galleries, dates from 1267-1291. it is square below, with an octagonal summit of a slightly later period. the main facade of the cathedral was largely altered in 1491, to which date the statues upon it belong; the portico in front was added in 1497. the building would be much improved by isolation, which it is hoped may be effected. the interior is fine, and is covered with frescoes by cremonese masters of the 16th century (boccaccio boccaccino, romanino, pordenone, the campi, &c.), which are not of first-rate importance. the choir has fine stalls of 1489-1490, upon one of which there is a view of the facade of the cathedral before its alteration in 1491. the treasury contains a richly worked silver crucifix 9 ft. high, of 1478, the base of which was added in 1774-1775. it contains 408 statues and busts altogether, the central three of which belong to an earlier cross of 1231. adjacent to the cathedral is the octagonal baptistery of 1167, 92 ft. in height and 75 ft. in external diameter, also in the lombard romanesque style. the so-called campo santo, close to the baptistery, contains a mosaic pavement with emblematic figures belonging probably to the 8th and 9th centuries, and running under the cathedral. of the other churches, s. michele has a simple and good lombard romanesque 13th-century facade, and a plain interior of the 10th century; and s. agata a good campanile in the former style. many of them contain paintings by the later cremonese masters, especially galeazzo campi (d. 1536) and his sons giulio and antonio. the latter are especially well represented in s. sigismondo, 1-1/2 m. outside the town to the e. on the side of the piazza del comune opposite to the cathedral are two 13th-century gothic palaces in brick, the palazzo comunale and the former palazzo dei giureconsulti, now the seat of the commissioners for the water regulation of the district. another palace of the same period is now occupied by the archivio notarile. the modern palazzo ponzoni contains a museum and a technical institute. in front of it is a statue of the composer amilcare ponchielli, who was a native of cremona. the palazzo fodri, now the monte di pieta, has a beautiful 15th-century frieze of terra-cotta bas-reliefs, as have some other palaces in private hands. cremona was founded by the romans in 218 b.c. (the same year as placentia) as an outpost against the gallic tribes. it was strengthened in 190 b.c. by the sending of 6000 new settlers and soon became one of the most flourishing towns of upper italy. it probably acquired municipal rights in 90 b.c., but augustus, owing to the fact that it did not support him, assigned a part of its territory to his veterans in 41