At the beginning of Spring Break, IES:Milano offers all students a 3-day all-expenses included (except for lunch) Cuisine and Culture Field Trip that features visits to the small Italian cities of Cremona, Parma, Mantova, and Castell’Arquato. Given the chance to eat great food, drink good wine, and experience authentic Italy for free, I was more than eager to sign up.
Cremona
The first destination on our trip was a tiny town located about 2.5 hours southeast of Milan called Cremona. Upon reaching the city by bus, we first visited it’s famous opera house. Considered one of the four most important opera houses in all of Italy, we were given an exclusive tour of the facilities, even though there was a performance scheduled for the next day. Although this theater pales in comparison to La Scala in Milan in both size and grandeur, it’s quaint atmosphere and intricate decoration make it a worthy tourist destination when visiting Cremona.
After leaving the opera house, we walked to the city center and visited the the Duomo and Baptistery. Although I certainly wouldn’t make a special trip to Cremona to visit these sites, if you happen to be in the city, they are worth stopping by
Our next stop was to a shop owned and operated by a violin maker, a skill and craft from which Cremona derives it’s worldwide fame. A small town in Northern Italy, Cremona is known throughout the music world as the heart of violin making and the prime destination for those who wish to purchase the best and most expensive of these intricately made musical instruments. We sat and listened for an hour as the violin maker explained the history of his craft, including the painstaking process required for the construction of each individual violin. Throughout this lecture we learned that each violin takes 2-3 months for its complete construction and costs anywhere from 5,000 – 25,000 euros. (Fun Fact: A violin made by revered violin maker Antonio Stradivari typically goes for 3-5 million euros at auction!).
After leaving this shop, we were given a more extensive tour of the city center, including a stop at a famous candy and sweet shop. In addition to it’s fame as the home of violin making, Cremona is also well known for it’s delicious nugget. After purchasing a giant chocolate from this shop (which I must say was amazing) and eating lunch, we headed to Parma.
Parma
Since Parma was the town in which we would be based in for the next two days, we checked into our hotel immediately upon arriving. After about an hour of free time, IES had arranged for us to receive a tour of the city before dinner. On this tour, we again visited the Duomo and Baptistery of this larger, but still small, Italian town. Although my desire to visit old churches has significantly waned over the course of the semester, I was still very impressed by the Duomo in Parma. In particular, the dome painted by Correggio was a breathtaking example of Italian art. This work was equally as impressive as any I have seen across Europe, although it was absolutely ridiculous that in addition to having to pay to visit the church, an additional fee was required to actually activate the lights necessary to see the dome!
After our tour was completed, we walked over to the restaurant in which IES had arranged for us to eat dinner, the Trattoria Corrieri. This 2.5 hour, 5-course meal was probably the best dinner I have ever had as we were treated to an appetizer of fried dough and assorted deli meats, a first course of pumpkin ravioli, a second course of rizzoto and polenta, a third course of chicken with gravy, and dessert featuring tiramisu.
Location: Cremona, Italy