A cosy provincial town situated bang in the middle of the Po plain, CREMONA is known for its violins. Ever since Andrea Amati established the first violin workshop here in 1566, and his son Nicolo and pupils Stradivari and Guarneri continued and expanded the industry, Cremona has been a focus for the instrument, attracting both tourists and musicians worldwide. Today around a hundred violin makers maintain the tradition started by the Amati family: there's an internationally famous school of violin making here, and there are frequent classical concerts, as well as a string festival held every third October.

All this said, Cremona is a quiet, relatively unexciting town, and not an obvious place to spend a night, and most people treat it as a day-trip from Milan or as a stopover en route to the richer pickings of Mantua or Bergamo. However, its lack of overnight visitors can be appealing in itself - certainly there are places to stay and a small crop of pleasant restaurants - and it can be a nice idea to give yourself time to wind down here, but not long enough to get bored