Day 49: Cremona: Amati, Guernari, and Stradivari

September 8, 2015

It was abundantly clear that the supposedly four star Hotel Impero was charging way too much for their dinky undecorated room with the marginal plumbing. We generally take a shot from the window in rooms we have had on the trip, and all reveal interesting or quaint scenes. So to be fair, here is our shot from the Hotel Impero:

We can see how the Impero is achieving their low value for money - they are part of a chain that has monopolized the hotel selection in Cremona. Good move - for them.

Though we were clearly a bit crabby with the hotel, they did redeem themselves a bit by allowing us to store the bikes and gear in a room near reception, while we gallivanted around the town on foot.

Dodie wanted to visit Tourist Information, at least to get the location of a good grocery store. We followed directions given by the hotel, and wound up at the municipal office that we had found the day before, and that claims to not be tourist information. But we did get that office to direct us, and they sent us back the way we came. We swore there was no tourist information that way, but they insisted, even coming out in the street and pointing.

We reluctantly backtracked and yes, behind a basically unmarked door, there it was. We took it upon ourselves to explain to the the ladies inside, pointing out that disoriented tourists - their clients - need a visible sign. They looked at each other and at us as if we all were from outer space. Still, they did identify the biggest grocery in town, which made for some fun later.

Tourist information number one (sort of) gives directions to tourist information number two.

Tourist information. Use some level of zoom on your computer and see if you spot the "i"

Cremona scores highly on my tourist sites index, if you include 26 palazzos (which you should)

The real plus with tourist information came when I picked up a cycling map for a region that was a mystery to me. This attracted the attention of one of the workers, Elena, who reached below the counter and whipped out a map that covered here to Milan - our route. Elena turned out to be a cyclist, and when we mentioned difficulty in crossing bridges, she became animated. She darkly circled three bridges, and said never go on these bridges.

We had already been looking at bridges coming up in the Bikeline itinerary, and were generally losing faith in the safety of the Bikeline route. So Elena suggested an alternative way to go, showing it on the map. She said the route was signed on the ground, but of course we are reluctant to just head off into the never never. So Elena downloaded the .gpx for the route and emailed it to us. Great!

We went to the grocery, a Carrefour, first. Remarkably, their sign said they are open 24/7. That's great, but we did not have much luck in finding many items. We will now have to fully adjust to being in Italy, and forget about raisins, oatmeal, hot chocolate - the staples of our Canadian diet. One other item we find a little harsh to forget about is bread. There was no bread in the store worth buying. Italians seem to like dry bread stick type stuff, and in the area of real bread - dry, white, almost stale stuff. We dropped into a dedicated bakery and found the same. I said no use going in to any other bakeries. Note, that is me, Steve, saying he does not want to go in to any bakery. What is the world coming to?

The biggest supermarket in town. No raisins, though.

We made our way back over to the Duomo, and found it, as expected, exceedingly gorgeous. It had lots of frescoe, and also an arch shaped painting at the front that Dodie particularly liked. Beside the Duomo is a very tall tower, which you can bust your guts climbing for 5 euros. We declined - Dodie saying something about knees, and I know the heights would make me ill.

Looking up the tower, we decided not to climb it today.

Dodie liked this image at the front of the church

The highlight of the day, and biggest thing about Cremona, is everything related to violin making. Northern Italy is the birthplace of the violin, and Cremona had the most consistent and concentrated group of makers. The most well know, of course, is Antonio Stradivari, who had did much of his work in the early 1700's. But Andrea Amati founded here a dynasty of extreme quality makers, beginning in the 1500's.

A third superstar maker is Giuseppi Guarneri. Maybe you will enjoy reading a bit of the Wiki on him:

"Bartolomeo Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri, del Gesù (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈzɛppe ɡwarˈnɛːri]; 21 August 1698 – 17 October 1744) was an Italian luthier from the Guarneri family of Cremona. He rivals Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737) with regard to the respect and reverence accorded his instruments, and for many prominent players and collectors are the most coveted of all. Instruments made by Guarneri are often referred to as Del Gesùs.

Guarneri is known as del Gesù (literally "of Jesus") because his labels after 1731 incorporated the nomina sacra, I.H.S. (iota-eta-sigma) and a Roman cross. His instruments diverged significantly from family tradition, becoming uniquely his own style. They are considered equal in quality to those of Stradivari, and claimed by some to be superior. Guarneri's violins often have a darker, more robust, more sonorous tone than Stradivari's. Fewer than 200 of Guarneri's instruments survive. They are all violins, although one cello bearing his father's label, dated 1731, seems to have been completed by del Gesù. The quality and scarcity of his instruments have resulted in sale prices in excess of $10 million USD.

An asteroid has been named 19185 Guarneri in his honour."

We began by visiting a statue of Stradivari, in Stradivari Square, and then went to (a replica of) his grave. But the focal point is the Museo del Violino. Cremona City has taken seriously its position as the place of origin of the violin, and has amassed a large number of priceless instruments for display here.

The museum is much more than that, though. It begins by tracing the early origins and forms of the instrument, and goes on to show in detail how they are made. It describes the various makers and their history, and tracks the spread of quality violin production shops across Europe and eventually to the US, Japan, and even Australia. There is an anechoic listening room, and well... all sorts of stuff. Our heads were suitably swimming well before the end.

The end, of course, was not a gift shop but a book shop. Violin is a huge, huge, subject, and neither the museum nor the bookshop tackled it all. Still, there was enough material in the bookshop to remind us that one could study just this slice of violin lore for a lifetime.

I particularly like a magazine, called STRAD, with topical articles like how to remember a whole concert's worth of music, an interview with Itzhak Perlman, and suchlike. The edition on the stand was August 2015. It seems there is hot news even in the classical violin world!

The violin museum was very modern, and made good use of computer technology, yet it had a traditional feel - like with these marble stairs

A audio guide device picked up on where you were standing and gave very clear, informative narration

This large touch screen allowed 3D manipulation of violin images - showing construction details

Films revealed how violins are made by hand

The Treasure Box-basically the room where the most famous and priceless instruments are on display.

There are of course many books about violins and violins in Cremona

This is an image of the Stradivarius violin the "Cremonese"

These are books about Stradivarius. The one on the left deals with his handwriting. The museum had an extensive collection of Stradivarius' forms and tools, plus notes in his own handwriting.

It was 3 o'clock before we remembered that we were hungry, and that I had been saying it has been days since I tried yet another pizza. So we went over to the Duomo restaurant. The waitress asked us if we wanted to eat - a question that used to throw us at a restaurant. But now we know one could go there just to drink. The thing is, Italians only eat at certain times, mainly late. Other times, in a restaurant, you could drink - maybe with some appetisers.

But we said eat, and we got seated. Our waiter, Lorenzo, appeared with some pickled appetisers and gave us menus. We studied these for a while, but Lorenzo reappeared to say that there could be no pizza, at least not until a proper hour in the late evening. He did say we could choose the daily menu, of Cremona specialties, and he was just discussing what that would be when his father came over (family business). Dad started to shout and wave his hands at Lorenzo. The gist seemed to be that there was no time to talk, because at the present hour of 3:25, the chef would be leaving in five minutes. We told Lorenzo to just go for it, but we were amused to hear the residual shouting in and around the kitchen for quite a while.

What we got was some totally super pumpkin filled ravioli, plus cutlets in a sauce and underlaid by polenta. Dessert was a wonderful nut, egg white, nougat thing. All in all, really good, and authentic. Pizza will have to wait.

The ravioli was pumpkin filled and really good.

I am typing this in the shadow of the Duomo, a truly spectacular location. But it's 5:30, and the restaurant whose table I am appropriating is beginning to wake up. so it's off to find the camping.

The camping turned out to be reasonable, and easy to find. It also featured a good view of the distant duomo. We are avoiding speaking to our neighbours, because it is getting dark. But they have a (prestige) Hilleberg tent and seem to be real cyclists. Thinking of real cyclists, we passed a velodrome (just a circular track really) where all the lycra enthusiasts had congregated. That is really the idea place for those who want to dress up and go fast.

Tomorrow we head off into the never never!

Here is the correct name for that cake given us by Hilde in sabbionete

Modern day Cremona still has an active violin making community.

In cremona, signs can point to restaurants, but also to luthiers

Today's ride: 5 km (3 miles)
Total: 2,361 km (1,466 miles)

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