Hotel Duomo

City with the highest bell tower

by vidlothian

"about an 1hr of train from Milano..."

Violins and the highest bell tower in Italy are the reasons that will likely take you to Cremona. On a small chamber, you'll be able to look at (but not touch) the famous Stradivari violins, whose sound modern violins can only dream to replicate. However, at 6 euros, the visit doesn't come so cheap (after all, it's just a small room you'll be seeing).
If it's open (and it usually is, unless it's really windy), climbing up the Torrazzo is certainly worth the ticket price. Just make sure you don't suffer from vertigo, as the tower is 111 metre high and at the top you can feel the walls slightly shaking, if it's a bit windy.

Besides the violins and the tower, also notable in Cremona are the center square (together with the bell tower, there's also the cathedral, the baptistry, the town hall and Hercules' statue holding the symbol of Cremona) and the turron sweet (that borrows its name from the tower; you can buy a good piece of it at the Sperlari store in via Solferino). Also, I don't think I've ever seen so many statues of martyrs as in Cremona..