CREMA, a town and episcopal see of Lombardy, Italy, province of Cremona, 26m. N.E. by rail from the town of Cre mona. Pop. (1931) 13,228 (town) ; 23,772 (commune). It is on the right bank of the Serio, 24oft. above sea-level, in the centre of a rich agricultural district. The cathedral has a fine Lombard Gothic facade of the second half of the 14th century, and a cam panile ; the rest of the church has been restored in Baroque. The clock tower opposite dates from the period of Venetian dominion. The church of S. Maria, 4m. E. of the town, was begun in 1490 by Giov. Batt. Battaggio; it is in the form of a Greek cross, with central dome ; the exterior shows fine polychrome Lombard work. Crema was the chief place of the territory of Isola Fulcheria in the loth century. In the 12th, Cremona attacked it and Milan sided with it ; Barbarossa sacked it in 116o, but it was rebuilt in 1185 ; it fell under the Visconti in 1338, joined the Lombard republic in 1447, and was taken by Venice in 1449, remaining under that Power till 1797, save for the period 1509-29.