Cremona

After the chocolate festival, we went back to the house and made sandwiches for a picnic to be taken to Cremona, a town about 45 minutes north of Medesano in the neighboring province of Lombardy. We were compelled to go to Cremona because of it's fame as the birthplace of the 'modern' violin, the location of the workshops of Amati, Guarneri, and Stradivari.

Cremona has a long and ancient history, dating from pre-Roman times, long before it's fame as a hotbed of musical instrument manufacture. We saw some beautiful buildings in the main piazza, but mostly went for the Stradivarius museum. Sorry for the fuzzy pictures but, of course no flash was allowed there. They had a huge collection of tools and drawings from the great man's workshop, as well as instruments from many different workshops in Cremona, including the greats mentioned above. We even got to hear (in a video) the violins being played, as they are apparently periodically to keep music flowing through them.

After leaving Cremona, Vito picked us up at the station in Fidenza to take us back home where we were to have dinner with the couple from downstairs--Erica and Lope. Now, mind you, this is all one day--the parmesan factory, the chocolate festival, Cremona and then around 8:30 a dinner of polenta with ragu (tomato meat sauce).

We were already a little worn out when we got there but by the end of day one, we were completely exhausted. We had a lovely dinner--Erica and Lope are super folks and very friendly--and then we had to sing some songs. Vito is well versed in the music of the 60's and we sang some favorite folk songs; Teach your children well, The Times they are a Changin, Guantanamera. It was great fun.

The pictures show; Vito's car being filled up with propane!, the piazza in Cremona, a Stradivarius violin, an astrological clock in the piazza, Rory with her favorite musical instrument-a chocolate grand piano.