Cremona City of Water: The River Architecture

Abstract

Cremona has always been characterised, since the Roman Empire, by a close relationship with the largest Italian river, the Po. Over the centuries its course has moved away from the city centre, because of some spontaneous and artificial changes in the river meanders, as shown by maps and historical registers, and today it is about 2 km south of the city. In the nineteenth century, the floodplain area became a second green city, intended for sports and leisure, and consisting of beaches and poplar groves. Wooden chalets for public beach facilities, boat rental centres and restaurants, rowing clubs, recreational organisations and heliotherapy camps invaded the riverfront. In the thirties of the twentieth century, such facilities were replaced by masonry seats, of which a rowing club and the camp facility survive today. But the habit of living the riverfront as the “Lido Padano” has not disappeared, indeed in 2016 a lido called Il Ponticello was reopened. Moreover, the model of rowing clubs, not finding further fertile ground on the river banks, has spread throughout the rest of the territory, where about ten similar associations have been founded.