What to see in Monza, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including Villa Reale, Duomo, Arengario in Piazza Roma and Park.
Tourist information
Located in the province of Milan, Monza is an ancient center of Brianza home to many industries.
Of Celtic origin and Roman colony, Monza played an important role in the Lombard period, the period in which Queen Teodolinda installed her court there.
In the first years of the fourteenth century it passed under the Visconteo dominion.
In Piazza Roma, which constitutes the center of city life, overlooks the Arengario, or the town hall, dating back to the thirteenth century.
The ancient Town Hall is characterized by a beautiful porch on the ground floor, by a set of mullioned windows with three-light windows and by a mighty crenellated tower with a spire.
The hall on the first floor is used as a civic museum.
Not far away is the Cathedral, built on the wishes of Queen Theodolinda in the sixth century but later entirely rebuilt in the thirteenth century in Gothic style and enlarged in the fourteenth century with the division into three naves.
The marble facade, which was built by Matteo da Campione in 1396 and richly decorated with two-tone white and green bands, includes a remarkable portal, a rose window and a gallery on small columns.
The robust bell tower, placed laterally, was erected between the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century.
Inside, modified several times with seventeenth and eighteenth-century interventions, very important works of art are preserved, including the choir with reliefs by Matteo da Campione, located in the central nave.
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Very interesting is the Chapel of Theodolinda, located in the left transept, dedicated to the Lombard queen deserving to have converted the Aryan subjects to Catholicism.
The decoration, consisting of a cycle of frescoes made by the Zavattari brothers in 1444, depicting episodes from the life of Teodolinda, is one of the best examples of late Gothic art in Lombardy.
In the altar inside the chapel there is the Iron Crown, which according to legend would have been forged between the fifth and eighth centuries, using a nail from the Cross of Jesus.
This iron crown, finished in gold and gems, was used in the Middle Ages to crown the Kings, lastly worn by Napoleon in 1805.
In the left nave there is the entrance to the Serpero Museum, dedicated to the huge treasure of the Church, which includes various types of furnishings and liturgical objects.
What see
The Royal Villa of Monza, whose main entrance is located in viale Regina Margherita, consists of a complex of buildings built in neoclassical style by Piermarini between 1777 and 1780 on commission from Ferdinando of Austria.
The architectural layout includes the rooms of the court theater, the Rotonda, decorated with frescoes depicting scenes from the fable of Cupid and Psyche, painted by Appiani, the chapel and other minor works.
From the central building you can enjoy an interesting perspective view of the English gardens also designed by Piermarini.
In the north wing of the complex of the royal villa there is the Civic Art Gallery, which collects works ranging from the sixteenth to the twentieth century Lombard, including about forty paintings made by Mosè Bianchi, as well as works by Fiammenghino, Preti and Crespi.
The park is very interesting, developed over a large area covering eight hundred hectares around the Villa.
Built by the architects Cagnola and Tazzini at the beginning of the 1800s, the park of the Villa Reale in Monza is crossed by the Lambro river and houses within it lands partly cultivated and partly destined to woods, with various stables, mills, farmhouses and temples, as well as to a dense network of paths useful for visiting it in all its breadth.
In addition to this, there are golf courses and polo fields, the Mirabello racecourse and the famous racetrack where important motor races are held at national and international level, including the Italian Formula One Grand Prix.
