Crema, Diocese of (CREMENSIS), suffragan to Milan. Crema is a city of the province of Cremona, Lombardy, Northern Italy, situated between the Rivers Adda and the Oglio, in a marshy region. It was built by inhabitants of various cities of the Insubres, who fled thither during the Lombard invasion of Italy. Crema fell eventually under Lombard rule and shared the vicissitudes of that monarchy. Crema was one of the first cities to organize as a commune. It joined the Lombard League, and was therefore destroyed, first by Frederick Barbarossa and later by the inhabitants of Cremona and Lodi. It afterwards acknowledged the rule of the Torriani and of the Visconti of Milan, for a while also that of the Benzoni. Finally it became subject to the Republic of Venice. It belonged to the Diocese of Lodi until 1580, when it was made a see and a suffragan of Milan. Among the most noted of its bishops was the zealous Marcantonio Zolli. The diocese has population of 58,000, with 53 parishes, 65 churches and chapels, 174 secular and 4 regular priests, 1 religious house of men and 7 of women.
CAPPELLETTI, Le chiese d'Italia (Venice, 1857), XII, 241-75; Ann. eccl. (Rome, 1907), 432-33; Barsreri, Compendio cronologico della storia di Crema (Crema, 1888).
U. Benigni.