Cremona

We woke up to a rainy morning in Verona. We slowly got packed up and then left the campsite initially on the motorway towards Cremona.

We passed a very slow car and then heard a bang on the side of the van. Glenn had seen the driver of the other set throw something to cause the bang.

We continued and the car then was behind us flashing its lights. Then it was alongside us. Luckily there was a motorway exit right there so we could get off - and the other car couldn’t from the other lane. We then continued driving towards Cremona on the normal roads - as we had planned anyway.

I had read about other motorhomers experiencing the same thing. They try to stop you and then say you hit their wing mirror and have to pay them 400 euro- or worse. I later read the thing to do is to show them you are videoing them and calling the police. If you have to stop - tell them police are coming.

Anyway we kept going with no problems - just bad country roads and rain.

We stopped for lunch on the side of the road in the middle of the 2 huge lakes next to Mantua. It was supposed to be nice but it was still very rainy.

We went through some interesting towns. One was San Martino d’all Argonne which had very large city walls and impressive colonades on the streets. It had been the area capital at one point and had a wealthy family who lived there and paid for the construction.

The little egrets must be migrating as we saw fields and fields of them.

We soon arrived in Cremona - and there was a violin sculpture on the first roundabout. It looks like a very old town.

We parked at the Violin Museum which is part of the violin making school. Cremona was the centre of violin making from the 1700s - and still is the main school and authority on violin making - having a competition every 3 years to judge the best violin, viola, cello and double bass.

In the 1500 and 1600 string instruments developed in Europe from box shaped type instruments. In the 1700s they started to look like as they are today.

The progression of violin making through the initial family workshops and apprenticeships were shown in a chart.

The Stradivari family started in 1750 and was taken over by 3 sons who didn’t have any children. They did have an apprentice who carried on their work.

The museum has a hall of instruments made by these initial family workshops.

This is a Stradivarius and templates from their workshop. They made different string instruments including harps.

There is a moving world map over time showing the number of violin makers. There was one in Sydney by 1830 - which is quite fast for a convict colony started only in 1788.

At one point there was plague in Cremona and there was no money to be had. The number of violin makers reduced by 60% as there was no money to be made. 2 violins in the collection that were created at this time look very worn as good materials couldn’t be found.

We went through to the competition section. All instruments winning the Cremona gold medal for the best instrument are bought by the museum and showcased there. We hope the instruments are played sometimes.

A picture and prize list of the master violin makers in the world is in the last room. There are a few women in the two hundreds or so men.

We then headed for the campsite on the edge of town. The park next to us has a car track named Pista Alfo Ferrari e Silvio Pedroni. I guess it was a test track as we are only 94km from the main Ferrari factory in Maranella. There is also a big race track nearby in Cremona where you can pay to drive a Ferrari - not that I’m interested in that.

We had a cosy night in as it was getting cold and starting to rain.