CREMONA, a city and episcopal see of Lombardy, Italy, the capital of the province of Cremona, situated on the north bank of the Po, 155ft. above sea-level, 6om. by rail S.E. of Milan. Pop. (town) ; 64,002 (commune). It is oval in s"L pe, and retains its mediaeval fortifications. The line of the streets is as a rule irregular.
The finest building is the cathedral, in the Lombard Roman esque style, begun in 1107 and consecrated in 119o. The wheel window of the main façade dates from 1273. The transepts, added in the 13th and .14th centuries (before 137o), have picturesque brick façades, with fine terra-cotta ornamentation. The great Tor razzo, a tower 397ft. high (the highest in Italy) 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 sum mit of a slightly later period. The main façade of the cathedral was largely altered in 1491-1501. The interior is fine, and is cov ered with frescoes by Cremonese masters of the i6th century (Boccaccio Boccaccino, Romanino, Pordenone, the Campi, etc.). The choir has fine stalls of 149o. Adjacent to the cathedral is the octagonal baptistery of 1167, 9 2 f t. in height and 7 5 f t. in external diameter, also in the Lombard Romanesque style. The so-called Campo Santo, close to the baptistery, contains a 12th century mosaic pavement with emblematic figures. Of the other churches, S. Michele has a simple and good Lombard Romanesque 13th century facade, and a plain interior of the loth century ; and S. Agata a good campanile in the former style. Many of them con tain 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 gym. outside the town to the east. 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. In the Piazza is a statue of the composer Amilcare Ponchielli. 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 soon became one of the most flourishing towns of upper Italy. It re mained prosperous (we may note that Virgil came here to school from Mantua) until it was taken and destroyed by the troops of Vespasian after the second battle of Betriacum in A.D. 69 ; the temple of Mefitis alone being left standing. One of the bronze plates which decorated the exterior of the war-chest of the legio III. Macedonica, one of the legions which had been defeated at Betriacum, has been found near Cremona. Vespasian ordered its immediate reconstruction, but it never recovered its former pros perity, though its position on the north bank of the Po, at the meeting point of roads from Placentia, Mantua (the Via Pos tumia in both cases) , Brixellum (where the roads from Cremona and Mantua to Parma met and crossed the river), Laus Pompeia and Brixia, still gave it considerable importance. It was de stroyed once more by the Lombards under Agilulf in A.D. 603, and rebuilt in 615, and was ruled by dukes ; but in the 9th century the bishops of Cremona began to acquire considerable temporal power. The commune of Cremona is first mentioned in a document of 1098, recording its investiture by the countess Matilda with the territory known as Isola Fulcheria. In the war of the Lombard League against Barbarossa, Cremona, after having shared in the destruction of Crema, in 116o and Milan in 1162, finally joined the League, but took no part in the battle of Legnano, and thus procured itself the odium of both sides. In the Guelph and Ghibel line struggles Cremona took the latter side, and defeated Parma decisively in 1250. It was during this period that Cremona erected its finest buildings. There was, however, a Guelph reaction in 1264; the city was taken and sacked by Henry VII. in 1311, and was a prey to struggles between the two parties, until Galeazzo Visconti took possession of it in 1322 : it then rebelled, and sur rendered to Azzone in 1334. In 1406 it fell under the sway of Cabrino Fondulo, who received with great festivities both the emperor Sigismund and Pope John XXIII., the latter on his way to the council at Constance; he, however, handed it over to Filippo Maria Visconti in 1419. In 1499 it was occupied by Venetians, but in 1512 it came under Massimiliano Sforza. In 1525 it fell under Spanish domination, and was compelled to furnish large money contributions. The population fell to 10,000 in 1668. The surprise of the French garrison on February 2, 1702, by the Im perialists under Prince Eugene, was a celebrated incident of the War of the Spanish Succession. The Imperialists were driven from Cremona after a sharp struggle, but captured Marshal Villeroi, the French commander. Hence the celebrated verse : Francais, rendons grace a Bellone Notre bonheur est sans egal ; Nous avons conserve Cremone, Et perdu notre general.' In the 18th century the prosperity of Cremona revived. In the Italian republic it was the capital of the department of the upper Po. Like the rest of Lombardy it fell under Austria in 1814, and became Italian in