Cremona, the city meets the Far East

Cremona, it's a short step from Japan to Cremona when a broadcaster like TBS, one of the most important television networks in the Land of the Rising Sun, enters the field. It is a channel with national coverage with a solid background and a list of successes, including the Television Grand Prix Award obtained in 2018 for the high didactic and educational value of its productions.

In search of new content for the documentary The World Wonders Discovery (which boasts around 15 million viewers per episode), the Japanese operators arrived in Cremona a few days ago and will stay until tomorrow, Friday 12 June, to discover the city and interview Japanese artisans and musicians.

Their guide is the violinist Lena Yokoyama, a true musical talent and native of Cremona by adoption. And this morning she performed at the Bertazzola, along the façade of the Cathedral, in Charles Gounod's Ave Maria with a violin by Giuliana Takashi, daughter of the well-known master luthier Ishii Takashi who passed away in 2015. It was a truly exciting when the music spread across the town square, arousing the admiration of passers-by and the crew involved in filming.

“Cremona cannot fail to take into account the importance of tourist flows coming from the East and these forms of collaboration are now fundamental, I dare say unmissable. Television entertainment content represents a very important vehicle for tourism promotion, since it reaches a very large number of people and can be used all over the world", is the comment of the Councilor for Tourism Barbara Manfredini who also recalls a second project.

“Tomorrow, Friday 12 June, at 18.30 pm, Cremona and its artistic beauties but not only – explains the Councilor – will be the protagonists of a live webinar organized by ENIT (Italian National Tourism Board) in collaboration with the Lombardy Region and Explora, to reach the American and Canadian markets more effectively. Our city will be told in a presentation entitled Cremona, capital of music and beauty".

This is an informal narration curated by Elena Piccioni of Target Turismo, who manages the Infopoint in Piazza del Comune. She will be the one, looking out of the large windows of the Town Hall, to talk about the Cathedral, the Torrazzo and all those small but evocative details that make our city unique. All live and for an audience of travel agents, tour operators and press representatives. The master luthier Gaspar Borchardt will also participate in the event and will illustrate the main characteristics of "luthiery know-how" according to the Cremonese method.

On the same day, Cremona will also host Raffaele Bellini, author of the blog Vita in Viaggio (http://vitainviaggio79.it/italia/). In a few hours, the blogger will try to make a video about the city and prepare various digital contents to share on social networks.

“We must seize every opportunity to get people talking about Cremona, especially among operators in the most interesting markets. These innovative and transnational methodologies are perfect for the context we are experiencing", finally adds Councilor Manfredini who expresses his thanks for the effort made by many operators and institutions committed, in this particular moment, to making more and better known our city as a tourist destination