Cremona, city of Stradivarius

Walking through the medieval streets of Cremona, you can suddenly be surprised by the sounds of violins coming out of one of almost fifty workshops, where violin makers still build their violins the way Stradivarius did.

Cremonese school
Ever since Antonio Stradivarius opened his workshop at the end of the 17th century, Cremona has been the world's capital for violin making. The violin-makers still build their instruments following the guidelines of Stradivarius himself.

Secret
From all over the world scientists come to Cremona to discover the secret of the Maestro. With the newest technologies they hope to find the secret of Stradivarius' extraordinary instruments.

Small glacial period

Almost every year they come up with a new theory. According to the latest, a period of long winters between 1645 en 1715 gave the wood special characteristics. In this period Europe went through a small glacial period with short summers and long, cold winters.

Special qualities

The trees grew very slowly in this period. Therefore, the annual rings were very close to each other. This brought about very strong wood with exceptional qualities for violin making, experts say.
 

By boat
The story goes that Stradivarius personally travelled to the Dolomite mountains to pick the best trees for his instruments. The wood was then brought to Cremona by boat.

Acclimatize

A second theory says thát was the big secret of Stradivarius: the slow transport over water, so that the wood absorbed humidity and had the chance to acclimatize. Other theories could count on less sympathy, like those about shrimp shells in Stradivarius' varnish.
 

Quality
The Cremonese violin-makers show little interest in scientific theories. They say there is no secret. The quality of the wood, the varnish and the tools are important. But in violin-making two plus two doens't make four. What gave the Strads their exceptional quality were the exceptional talent and dedication of the Maestro.

1100 violins

During his life, Stradivarius built around 1100 violins, violias, cellos and guitars.

By train you can reach Cremona from Milan Central Station in a 1 hour and 10 minutes.