CREMA  , a

town and episcopal see of Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Cremona, 26 m . N.E. by rail from the town of Cremona . Pop . (1901) town, 8027; commune, 9609 . It is situated on the right bank of the Serio, 240 ft. above sea-level, in the centre of a rich agricultural district . The cathedral has a fine Lombard Gothic facade of the second half of the 14th century; the campanile belongs to the same period; the rest of the church has been restored in the baroque style . The clock tower opposite dates from the period of Venetian dominion in the 16th and 17th centuries . The castle, which was one of the strongest in Italy, was demolished in 1809 . The church of S . Maria, 4 m . E. of the town, was begun in 1490 by Giov . Batt .

Battaggio; it is in the

form of a Greek cross, with a central dome, and the exterior is a fine specimen of polychrome Lombard work (E . Gussalli in Rassegna d' ark, 1905, p . 17) . The date of the foundation of Crema is uncertain . In the loth century it appears to have been the principal place of the territory known as Isola Fulcheria . In the 12th century it was allied with Milan and attacked by Cremona, but was taken and sacked by Barbarossa in 116o . It was rebuilt in 1185 . It fell under the Visconti in 1338, end joined the Lombard republic in 1447; but was taken by the Venetians in 1449, and, except from 1509 to 1529, remained under their dominion until 1797 .