Monza is a city in Brianza, a territory of Lombardy. The capital of Brianza presents important medieval remains: the Gothic Cathedral with the adjoining Chapel of Teodolinda, which houses the Iron Crown and the thirteenth-century Arengario. However, the best-known monument in Monza is undoubtedly the neoclassical Villa Reale built in the 18th century by Piermarini. A large park extends around the Villa, which houses the well-known racetrack, home to the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix every year.
Piazza Roma is the heart of Monza. The Arengario, the
thirteenth-century town hall, overlooks it. The Duomo with the annexed
museum and treasure is located in the immediate vicinity.
Via
Lambro begins in Piazza Duomo, the oldest in Monza surrounded by
medieval houses. Following its route, one skirts (leaving the church)
the right side of the cathedral and meets the Teodolinda tower from the
13th century but rebuilt in the 19th century. The street ends on the
river near the Ponte dei Leoni of 1842, conceived as a monumental
entrance to the center at the end of via Vittorio Emanuele, opened in
the same period.
A little further north another bridge crosses
the Lambro, the San Gerardino bridge from 1715, near the small church of
the same name dedicated to San Gerardo dei Tintori, one of the two
patron saints of Monza.
On via Italia which starts from piazza
Roma pointing south is the church of Santa Maria in Strada from the 14th
century while on via Carlo Alberto is the church of San Pietro Martire
By car
Monza is surrounded by 2 ring roads of Milan, the EAST and
the NORTH, a motorway (A4) and a freeway, La Valassina (SS 36), which
leads up to Lecco. The exit on the Tangenziale EST is the
Monza/Concorezzo exit and it is advisable not to pass the Agrate barrier
where a toll of 1.20 Euros is required. On the motorway section, the
exit for Monza is the Cinisello Balsamo/Sesto San Giovanni exit. The
Valassina instead allows three different exits. Monza Viale Elvezia (the
closest to the Villa Reale), Monza Rondò and the Taccona.
On the
train
Monza has two stations. The 'Monza station' which is the main
station and the 'suburb Monza station' where very few trains stop. The
lines that pass through Monza are:
Bergamo-Brescia (via Carnate, on
the Monza-Lecco line)
Como-Chiasso
Lecco
Milan
The
adjacent stations are:
Sesto San Giovanni, along the route to Milan
Arcore, going towards Bergamo-Brescia or Lecco
Lissone-Muggiò on the
stretch for Como-Chiasso
The trains of the Swiss railways and
Trenitalia pass through these stations. On the Trenitalia website it is
possible to consult the timetables of the trains.
Monza station
has two entrances, an old one on Piazza della Stazione and a new and
recent one on Piazza Porta Castello. The only ticket office is located
at the old entrance therefore, arriving from piazza porta castello, you
have to cross the station completely.
By bus
Monza has some
bus lines. A poor but functional service is available on this page in
which, by entering the destination street or square, the line passing
through it is indicated. Further information can be found on the TPM
website, the company that manages the Monza public service. The price of
a ride is 0.90 Euros. Here is a map of the bus lines in the municipality
of Monza.
Other lines for various countries terminate or pass
through Monza. It is possible to consult the timetables on the specific
website of the Lombardy region.
Cathedral of Monza
The Cathedral of Monza overlooks the square of
the same name in the historic centre; tradition has it that it was Queen
Teodolinda who ordered its first construction. The bell tower, erected
in the 17th century, was restored between 1999 and 2006. The cathedral
houses the historic museum.
Churches
Church of San Gerardo:
here are the remains of San Gerardo dei Tintori, co-patron of the city.
Despite the monumental bulk, it is not very visible due to the buildings
next to it. It is located in via San Gerardo, near via Lecco.
Church
of San Gerardino: in via Gerardo dei Tintori bears witness to the place
where the saint from Monza founded his hospital in the 12th century.
Church of Sancto Gerhardo: it is the church of the old hospital flanked
by the Chapel of San Carlo.
Church of Santa Maria al Carrobiolo: it
was built between 1232 and 1259 on a previous pagan cemetery, close to
the convent of the Umiliati. The bell tower, in Romanesque style, dates
back to 1339.
Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie: it is located in
via Montecassino, near the Lambro and the park. Belonging to the order
of the Franciscan Friars Minor, it was built in 1463.
Church of San
Maurizio: located in Piazza Santa Margherita, it was originally erected
with another title in 1469 and was part of the convent complex of the
Umiliate, where the Nun of Monza lived.
Church of Santa Maria in
Strada: it is located in via Italia. The facade was completely rebuilt
in the 18th century; originally the church was part of a convent of the
"friars of penance". Inside there is also a small cloister.
Church of
San Pietro Martire: overlooks the homonymous square. Built in the
fourteenth century, it became part of a convent complex and later the
seat of the Inquisition court.
Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli:
located in via Zucchi.
Church of Santa Maria Maddalena and Santa
Teresa: also called "delle Sacramentine", it is located on the corner
between via Italia and via Santa Maddalena. It was rebuilt in 1620.
Church of San Biagio: built between 1963 and 1968 to a design by the
architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni with modern forms that recall a tent in
the desert to flank and then replace the previous parish church, from
the end of the 18th century, which collapsed due to structural
weaknesses in February 1977 .
Church of San Carlo, in via Volturno
38.
Church of Santa Gemma: it is the last religious building in the
city built in the 20th century, designed by the architect Pietro Ripa.
Church of San Giuseppe: built in 1976 to a design by the Swiss architect
Justus Dahinden.
Church of San Pio X, in via della Birona 42.
Church of San Rocco, in via San Rocco 3.
Church of the Sacred Heart:
located in viale Vittorio Veneto.
Church of San Gregorio; (17th-18th
century), used by the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Church of Santa
Marta: the building is no longer used for worship and is located in
Piazza San Paolo.
Church of Sant'Alessandro, via Sant'Alessandro
Church of San Fruttuoso, via San Fruttuoso. It became a parish on 15
June 1578 by San Carlo Borromeo, Cardinal Archbishop of Milan.
Church
of the Holy Family, in Piazza Santa Caterina da Siena serving the
Cederna district, built in 1940.
Church of San Francesco, part of the
complex of the Franciscan nuns in the Cederna district.
Shrine of
Carmel, in viale Cesare Battisti.
Parish of Saints James and Donato
Regina Pacis Parish
Chapel of the Villa Reale: (18th century) dedicated to the Immaculate
Madonna, it is located in the Court of Honor of the Villa Reale in
Monza.
Chapel of Villa Mirabello, Durini, in the Park.
Expiatory
chapel, commissioned by Vittorio Emanuele III on the site where his
father, Umberto I, was killed at the hands of an anarchist, Gaetano
Bresci, on 29 July 1900. The access road is located in viale Cesare
Battisti.
Cemetery chapel, via Ugo Foscolo.
Royal Villa
The Royal Villa is one of the most important monuments
of the city. The villa was built during the period of Austrian
domination over the Duchy of Milan, as a symbol of the prestige and
magnificence of the Habsburg court, commissioned by the Empress Maria
Theresa of Austria and dedicated to her fourth son, Archduke Ferdinand
of Austria, who at that time resided in Milan as Governor of Lombardy
and wanted a villa outside the city to spend the summer season and to go
hunting. The works began in 1777 under the guidance of Giuseppe
Piermarini. It is made up of a central body and two wings that branch
off at right angles. From the gardens of the Royal Villa it is possible
to access the Monza Park on foot by reaching Viale Cavriga or the
Cascina del Sole.
Arengario
The Arengario is located in the
historic centre, in Piazza Roma, the point from which the main streets
of the pedestrian area depart. It is the ancient Town Hall of Monza,
built in the XIII century. Initially it lacked the tower and the
"Parlera", the balcony from which the rulers looked out to speak to the
population.
The city of Monza has a valuable architectural heritage which is
still being surveyed and analysed. Among the best known buildings are:
House of the Moon
House-tower of the Gualtieri
Bosisio College
Leo Dehon Institute
Palazzo Calloni
Palace of the Caryatids
Crivelli Mesmer Palace
Palazzo Porchera Bellini
Ranzini Palace
Palazzo Scanzi
Villa Archinto Pennati
Villa Brugola
Villa
Carminati-Ferrario
Villa Cattani
Villa Dosso-Biffi
Villa
Durini, la Grassa
Villa Keller
Villa Mirabello Durini
Villa
Mirabellino Durini
Villa Pallavicini-Barbò
Villa Pennati
Villa
Prata
Tournament Villa
Royal Villa
Antico Seminario, currently called "Palazzo degli studi", houses the
Bartolomeo Zucchi state high school, the headquarters of the Civic
Library and the Civic Gallery
Cappellificio Monzese, currently the
headquarters of the Italian Post Office
House of the Decumanus
Cloister of the Humiliated
Bianconi College
Former Fiat-Fossati
garage
Monza Town Hall
Provincial Palace
Justice palace
former Villa Durini
Royal Station
Urban Center
Gio Ponti
building
Ponte dei Leoni, was built on the Lambro river in 1842 near the
remains of the Ponte d'Arena dating back to the 1st century (an arch of
which is still visible at one end of the current bridge) on the occasion
of the opening of the via Ferdinandea, today via Vittorio Emanuele. The
bridge consists of three lowered arches with granite shoulders. On the
sides, the four marble lions, on a base, are the work of the sculptor
Antonio Tantardini.
Ponte di San Gerardino, crosses the Lambro river
at the house and the ancient hospital of the saint from Monza. A stone
ashlar of one of the arches is engraved with the date 1715.
Ponte de
la Mariotta, on this bridge over the "Lambretto" was located the Porta
de' Gradi (Porta d'Agrate) which was demolished in 1908. The bridge
connects via Bergamo with via De Gradi and had taken the name of a
greengrocer, Mariotta, who had her stall under the arch of the door.
Ponte delle Grazie Vecchie
Bridges in the Monza Park
Longobard tower
Theodelinda Tower
Torre Viscontea: it is the
only remnant of the Monza castle built, with the city walls, by Galeazzo
Visconti in the 14th century and demolished in 1807 by the Durini counts
Monza, who first restored the castle in the 17th century when they took
over the city for will of the Spanish crown, then in the 19th century
they demolished it to build a neoclassical villa on the site based on a
project by Carlo Amati. The tower stands on the banks of the Lambro
river and is well preserved: the loopholes of the drawbridge, a
mullioned window and a Spanish coat of arms are still visible.
Walls
of Monza
Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II
Monument to Garibaldi
Monument
to Moses Bianchi
War Memorial
Fountain of the Frogs
Gio
Pomodoro Fountain
Statue of St. Charles Borromeo
Statue of St.
Michael
Park of Monza
The park of Monza is one of the major historical
parks in Europe, and the largest of those enclosed by walls. It has an
area of about 685 hectares and is located north of the city, between the
municipalities of Villasanta, Vedano al Lambro and Biassono. With the
gardens of the Villa Reale, the park of Monza constitutes a complex of
inestimable landscape, historical, monumental and architectural value.
The park of Monza begins with the first nuclei merged by the Durini
feudal counts of the city around their Mirabello residence in the 17th
century, then further expanded in the second half of the 18th century by
the will of Cardinal Angelo Maria Durini with sumptuous French gardens
where the cardinal brought together a court of intellectuals and men of
letters including Parini. This important nucleus was later commissioned
by Eugenio di Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepson and viceroy of the Kingdom
of Italy, as a complement to the Villa Reale built a few decades earlier
by the will of the Austrian government. The project was entrusted to the
architect Luigi Canonica; the works began in 1806 and ended in 1808.
After the fall of Napoleon, the park became the property of the Austrian
state and then of the Kingdom of Italy. King Umberto I often resided in
the Royal Villa, but after his assassination (July 29, 1900) the Savoys
abandoned the Villa and the park, which was given to the Opera Nazionale
Combattenti to manage. In 1920 the Opera gave the park to a consortium
formed by the Municipality of Monza and that of Milan and by the Humane
Society. In the following years, large areas were given in concession
for the construction of sports facilities: in 1922 the national
racetrack of Monza was built in the northern part of the park, and the
racecourse (no longer existing) between the Mirabello and Mirabellino
villas; in 1928 the golf course, alongside the racetrack. The latter
soon became one of the most famous and prestigious circuits and is the
main reason for the fame of the city of Monza in the world. Inside the
park flows the Lambro river which insinuates itself with small
waterfalls and peaceful mirrors, crossed by four bridges. It rises on an
alluvial soil transported by the river, clayey and sandy.
Royal
Gardens
The Royal Gardens surround the Royal Villa and are of
considerable naturalistic and botanical interest. Inside there is a
small lake, in which volatile species such as mallards and swans find
shelter. Near the lake stands a turret embellished by a belvedere at the
top; due to its shapes and the choice to build it in exposed brick, in
the imagination of the people of Monza it is remembered as an ancient
medieval tower (although in reality it was built by Canonica together
with the park only in 1825). On the contrary, the tower incorporated in
the Cantone mill, which was part of the ancient defensive line north of
the city, is a medieval tower from the 12th century, of which it is the
only surviving find. Between the Villa Reale and the Serrone is the
'Niso Fumagalli' rose garden, of international importance.
Green
area of the Cascinazza
It is located south of the historic center and
is cyclically at the center of political and judicial disputes, due to
the opposition between the public interest (which wants to keep the
green area) and private interests (which want to cement the area to make
a profit).
San Gerardino
It is a characteristic historic district of the
historic center like the one further south of the Lambro, called "i
Mulini". It presents an evocative perspective view of the houses that
stand on the river which, about fifty years ago, here divided into
various branches which were used to operate the water mills (an oil mill
is left of these mills). In a courtyard with a loggia in via Gerardo dei
Tintori is the suggestive little church known as San Gerardino (which is
actually the oldest of the three city churches named after the patron
saint of Monza) with internal frescoes dating back to the sixteenth
century and attributable in part to the school luinesque. The church is
actually part of the ancient hospital of San Gerardino, a complex
divided into various buildings, founded by the saint in 1174, remodeled
in various periods, and in use until the 18th century.
In this
district, the traditional festival of San Gerardo, patron saint of the
city, takes place annually on June 6, with the placing of a statue of
the saint in the riverbed.
Colombo mill
Near the
eighteenth-century bridge known as San Gerardino stands the Colombo
mill. The mill, already active at the beginning of the 18th century, was
originally used to grind the grain, then for the fulling of the wool and
finally it was used as an oil mill. Inside, the millstone, the press and
other ancient tools are conserved. It is used in short periods of the
year for exhibitions organized by the Ethnological Museum of Monza and
Brianza.
Via Lambro
Via Lambro is considered the oldest in
Monza. Located in the primitive nucleus of the medieval city, it starts
from Piazza Duomo and extends on the left side of the basilica,
descending towards the Lambro with a regular route and passing towards
its end under a medieval "tower house" ("Punt Scür" in dialect). This
tower, known as "di Teodolinda", is actually from the thirteenth century
and was completely restored in the nineteenth century. It has single,
triple and Guelph merlons resting on a frame of small arches. At the
beginning of the road you can see some 14th and 15th century "a sporto"
houses with small iron balconies.
Disappeared buildings
Theodelinda Palace, 6th century
The first basilica of San Giovanni
Battista
The Pratum magnum, today piazza Trento e Trieste
The
Castle of Berengario I
The Visconti Castle
The Church of
Sant'Agata, Longobard
The church of San Francesco
The Lombard
church of San Michele
The Church of San Salvatore, Longobard (769)
The Ducal Theatre, by Piermarini, was destroyed in a fire in 1802
Palazzo Durini de Leyva, the residence of the feudal counts, was located
in the ancient Piazza del Mercato, the current Piazza Trento e Trieste,
where the current Palazzo Comunale now stands
The Porta de Gradi, an
ancient medieval gate located astride the Lambro from which the feudal
lords entered when arriving from Milan. This building was restored by
Gian Giacomo II Durini in 1704 and, to commemorate this event, the Count
of Monza had a large marble effigy affixed there representing Saint
James, protector of the Durini family, feudal lords of the city, the
work of the sculptor Giuseppe Rusnati. The gate was demolished at the
beginning of the 20th century and the marble group by Rusnati is now
located near the place where the gate used to be, between via Bergamo
and via Pesa del lino, near the pont de la Mariota where the Porta de
Gradi once stood .
According to a legend, Queen Teodolinda, to rest during a hunting
trip for the king and the Lombard court, fell asleep along the bank of
the river Lambro. In a dream, she would have seen a dove, a symbol of
the Holy Spirit, which would have pronounced the word modo, to indicate
that she would have to dedicate that place to God. The queen would then
have replied etiam, indicating her full compliance with the divine will
.
From the union of the two words modo and etiam the name of the city
was born: Modoetia.
The episode is narrated, together with others
from the queen's life, in the cycle of frescoes, executed in the 15th
century by the Zavattari brothers, which entirely decorates the walls of
the Teodolinda Chapel in the Cathedral of Monza.
Urns and grave goods, weapons, oil lamps, pins, various pottery:
these finds dating back to the Bronze Age (around the 2nd millennium BC)
were discovered both in the province of Monza and in the current city at
the end of the 20th century: these finds today are conserved in the
deposits of the Civic Museums.
Documented is also the certain
presence in the region of socially organized communities of Celtic
origin. In fact, the Celtic tribe of the Insubres, having crossed the
Alps, had settled around Mediolanum (Milan), dividing themselves into
numerous villages, including what would become today's Monza.
Pliny the Elder describes the inhabitants of the area as dedicated to
sheep farming and agriculture of turnips, wheat and vines. Pig breeding
was flourishing thanks to the abundance of oak forests.
In the year 222 BC. the Roman consuls Gneo Cornelius Scipio Calvus
and Marcus Claudius Marcellus subjugated the Insubrian Celts who,
however, a few years later, revolted at the arrival of Hannibal (218
BC).
Back in the orbit of Rome in the first decades of the 2nd
century BC, Cisalpine Gaul was integrated with a widespread settlement
of colonists and obtained Roman citizenship from Julius Caesar in 49 BC.
(Lex Roscia).
In the division of Augustus Modicia was included in
Regio XI, whose territory corresponded to the ancient Gaul Transpadana.
The city was not an autonomous municipality as it depended on the
municipality of Mediolanum due to its relative proximity; important road
junction for the roads that connected Milan to Como and Bergamo, its
importance began to manifest itself from the end of the 3rd century even
if the place continued to maintain an essentially agricultural
character.
The Latin name of the city was probably Mòdicia (as
evidenced by the dedication engraved on a second century altar dedicated
to Hercules by the Juvenes Modiciates) even if it is not found mentioned
in documents of either the Republican or Imperial age.
From the
archaeological finds it has been found that the main nucleus of the city
was on the right bank of the Lambro river towards the Cathedral, and a
second nucleus, perhaps later, was on the left bank towards today's
church of San Maurizio.
The two areas were connected by the only
remaining monument of the Roman Monza: the bridge over the river Lambro
called "di Arena".
The bridge would be so called because it was
located near a place where young people practiced gymnastic-sport
activities; another hypothesis instead refers to the possible existence
of a small amphitheater on the left bank of the river, as suggested by
the elliptical curve described by the current via Vittorio Emanuele II.
The bridge (which was demolished in the 19th century to make way for
today's Ponte dei Leoni) was 70 m long and 4 m wide, was made up of
seven lowered arches in terracotta and serizzo, one of which is still
visible. The road that led from Milan to Lecco and Bergamo passed
through here.
Of Roman Monza there are various testimonies such
as ceramics, raw or painted, for daily use, altars dedicated to Jupiter,
Hercules and Mercury, inscriptions, sarcophagi, sepulchral tombstones
and epigraphs of soldiers, traders and small owners, often with
Romanised Celtic names.
The foundations of a late Roman nymphaeum
have been rearranged in the garden of the so-called Casa dei Decumani,
not far from the site of the discovery which took place to the east of
the Rosary chapel of the Cathedral. In a not very distant area there
could also be a burial area, since the relative stone materials of the
enclosure were reused as pillars of the same house of the Decumani.
In the last period of the decline of the empire, in 402, the Goths
of Alaric sacked the Transpadana region.
With the disintegration of the Roman Empire, Monza shares the
vicissitudes of the whole of Italy which undergoes the settlement of new
peoples.
First the Heruli of Odoacer, who deposed the last Roman
emperor (476).
Then the Ostrogoths of Theodoric (493), who
chooses Monza as one of his residences and has his own Palatium magnum
built there. Unfortunately, no apparent trace remains of the palace of
Theodoric, mentioned by Paolo Diacono in his Historia Langobardorum.
Then the war waged by Justinian against the Goths which leads to the
Byzantine reconquest of Italy (553).
Finally, the arrival in
Italy of the Longobards (568), led by their king Alboino: the Longobard
conquest will extend to a large part of the Italian territory
(Langobardia Maior and Langobardia Minor) and will involve a
historically important role for the city of Monza (Modoetia) .
There is no historical information about Monza for the entire period
between the death of Theodoric and the reign of Autari which instead
will be, together with that of his successor Agilulf, politically very
important for the city.
Autari, the third king in Italy of the
Lombards, had married, in 589, Teodolinda, a Bavarian Catholic princess,
daughter of Duke Garibaldo and of Valdrada, princess of the Longobard
lineage of the Letingi.
Autari suddenly died in 590, Teodolinda
married in second marriage the duke of Turin, Agilulfo, crowned king of
Italy. The royal couple established their capital in Milan and their
summer residence in Monza; Teodolinda then had a rich palace built in
Monza. Even of this royal residence there is no trace left, except in
the inscription on the Evangeliary donated by the queen to the church of
San Giovanni.
Teodolinda also had an oraculum, i.e. a place of
prayer, built near her palace and on the bank of the Lambro river in
595, soon enlarged and equipped with many gold and silver ornaments: the
first basilica of San Giovanni Battista, adjacent to the Royal Palace.
All this according to the testimony of the Lombard historian Paolo
Diacono (8th century), who wrote in his Historia Langobardorum:
«[…]
Theudelinda regina basilicam costruxerat, qui locus supra Mediolanum
duodecim milibus abest, [...].»
Vestiges of the Theodolindian
temple, such as walls from the 6th century, inscriptions, slabs
decorated with religious subjects are still found to be part of today's
Cathedral, which perhaps includes some naves. To the side of the apse
there is also a Longobard tower used later as a bell tower of the
Basilica and perhaps originally placed to defend the adjacent Royal
Palace.
Pope Gregory the Great, thanks to the influence of the
queen, supported the conversion to Catholicism of the Lombard people,
still largely pagan or Aryan. To encourage and confirm the people's
faith, the pope donated a series of cult objects, many of which, loaded
with historical and artistic value, are still kept today in the
Cathedral museum, together with numerous art objects of this people:
among these the Evangeliary of Teodolinda, which Pope Gregory the Great
gave in 603 to the queen of the Lombards.
Theodelinda died in 627
and was buried in the Oraculum. In 1308 her remains were transferred to
a sarcophagus in the chapel dedicated to her.
After Teodolinda,
the Church of Monza assumed an ever greater spiritual and temporal
importance. At her head was a "Deacon guardian" (who later, in the year
879, became "Archpriest"). In this period the Basilica of Monza and its
lands were first subject to "Princes", i.e. to feudal lords sent by the
Lombard kings residing in Pavia.
Later the Archpriest of Monza
came to associate the temporal power with the spiritual one.
In
the year 774 the Longobards of Desiderio are defeated by the Franks of
Charlemagne who receives the Iron Crown in 775.
Later the city
entered the domains of the Holy Roman Empire, albeit with wide margins
of autonomy, and finally, from the 11th century, it entered the orbit of
Milan.
Monza was also under the lordship of the illustrious
family of the Morigia princes allied with the Visconti.
A free commune in the 13th century, in the 14th century Monza entered
the domains of the Visconti of Milan, whose fate it followed, then
passing under the dominion of the powerful Durini family of Milan in the
midst of the Spanish occupation. The Durinis gave the city and its
entire extended territory an economic and cultural boost of great
importance, they built important buildings commissioned to the most
important architects of the time, they gave life to great decorative
campaigns in their palaces as well as in the Cathedral, in which the
same artists chosen by the Durinis for the sumptuous palace in Milan in
via Durini. The first historic villas in Monza are built.
At the
end of the War of the Spanish Succession (1713), the Duchy of Milan was
assigned to the house of the Habsburgs of Austria. This historical
period corresponds to a season of rebirth of the city, with a notable
development of agriculture and handicrafts.
The Empress Maria
Teresa had the Villa Reale (1777-1780) built for her son Ferdinando,
Governor of Milan. The choice of Monza was due not only to the beauty of
the landscape, but also to the strategic position and the fact of being
easily connected to Vienna as well as to its proximity to Milan. The
construction was completed in three years by the Foligno architect
Giuseppe Piermarini. The Durinis were decisive not only for the
relations they maintained with the Habsburgs and for the prestige of
their court which they kept in Monza of artists and intellectuals in
influencing the choice of Maria Theresa of Austria to bring the Habsburg
court to this city, building there thus the archducal villa, now called
Villa Reale. The Durinis dominated the city and its territory until the
end of the feudal regime.
At the conclusion of Napoleon
Bonaparte's Italian campaign (1796) the Duchy of Milan was ceded to the
French Republic and then became part of the Cisalpine Republic (which,
in 1802, would become the Italian Republic).
From Napoleon to the Second World War
Disliked by the French as a
symbol of aristocratic power, the Villa of Monza was sold to be
demolished, but the protests of the citizens obtained its salvation even
if the abandonment caused the degradation of the complex.
Two
thirds of the gold and silver in the famous Treasury of the Monza
basilica are delivered to the Milan mint, which transforms them into
coins to "repay" French war expenses. Bonaparte also takes possession of
the treasures of the basilica and the books of the Capitular Library
which enrich the National Library of France. Instead, the iron crown was
temporarily left in Monza.
In 1805 the Italian Republic became
the Kingdom of Italy with the capital Milan. On May 26, 1805, the Iron
Crown was in Milan for the coronation of Napoleon, who placed it on his
own head, uttering the famous phrase "God gave it to me, woe to anyone
who touches it". Napoleon also institutes the Order of the Iron Crown.
Monza receives the title of imperial city. Viceroy of Italy Eugenio
di Beauharnais was nominated and in August 1805 he settled in the Villa
of Monza. The restored building returns to live a new brilliant period
and, on this occasion, takes the name of Villa Reale.
With the
fall of the First Empire (1815) Austria obtained the annexation of the
Italian territories of the Lombardo-Veneto Kingdom, but oppressively
governed them with its own officials: Monza was included in the province
of Milan.
By decree of the Emperor of Austria Francesco I in 1816
Monza officially became a city. In 1818 the archduke Ranieri, viceroy of
the Lombardo-Veneto Kingdom, returned to use the Villa of Monza.
The successive emperor of Austria, Ferdinand I, had himself crowned king
of Lombardo Veneto in Milan with the iron crown (September 6, 1838) and,
on the occasion, extended various benefits to the city.
The
craftsmanship of wool processing is declining while that of felt and the
related hat industry are becoming increasingly important.
During
the five days of Milan (March 22-23, 1848) Monza also rose up, driving
out the Austrian garrison of the Geppert regiment. The patriots from
Monza, united with the Lecco, then fought in Milan at Porta Tosa (now
Porta Vittoria). Once the Austrians were driven out, a "City Guard" was
formed in Monza to which the women of Monza gave the banner.
After the first war of independence, on the return of the Austrians in
1849, General Radetzky and then Archduke Maximilian (brother of Emperor
Franz Joseph and later Emperor of Mexico) settled in the Villa Reale.
The thing that mattered most was, as usual, the basilica's treasure
which, taken by General Radetzky, had been taken to Mantua in 1849 but
returned in the same year.
In 1859, at the end of the second war
of independence, all of Lombardy was freed from the Austrians and became
part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. But the treasury and the iron crown,
after a stop in Verona, had been transferred by the Austrians to Vienna;
everything will solemnly return to Monza only at the conclusion of the
third war of independence, on 6 December 1866. And in Monza the Iron
Crown remains permanently, with only two exceptions: in 1878, when, in
Rome, it is placed on the coffin of Vittorio Emanuele II and during the
two world wars when it is secured in the Vatican.
In 1861,
following the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, the city had about
25,000 inhabitants.
In 1868 King Vittorio Emanuele II established
the Order of the Crown of Italy in which the iron crown appears.
For centuries the waters of the Lambro had already supplied the driving
force to the activity of the numerous mills in Monza, of which an
example is the Mulino Colombo, and this opportunity had favored the
development of a city's handicrafts. From the mid-nineteenth century we
witnessed the transformation of traditional craft activities, silk
weaving, hat production, cotton weaving, and, in Brianza, woodworking
and furniture production, into a modern manufacturing industry.
In particular, in the last two decades of the century, the physiognomy
of Monza as an industrial city was markedly accentuated. The textile
sector (Fossati cotton mill), the one linked to mechanics (Officine
Meccaniche Alfredo Zopfi & C.) and electricity (Hensemberger batteries),
and above all the hat industry (Cambighi, Valera and Ricci hat
factories, Carozzi, Meroni, Paleari and Ferrario).
The production
of hats had established itself in Monza since the 17th century, when the
primacy of production was wrested from Milan by virtue of lower costs
and exemption from city duties, and in the last decades of the 19th
century it had reconverted into a flourishing industry manufacturing of
European proportions. The importance of the sector for Monza was such
that the city, then known as the "City of Hats", between the end of the
19th and the beginning of the 20th century became the main center for
the production of hats in the world, headquarters of the Italian
Federation of hat makers and, from 1921 to 1926, also of the
International Federation of Hatters, the international trade union of
category workers. The industry went into crisis during the twenty years
of fascism and was never able to reconstitute itself after the war,
except in small realities.
On 22 August 1891, the first Monza
hospital dedicated to Saint Gerard, co-patron of the city together with
Saint John the Baptist, was inaugurated, thanks also to the conspicuous
donation from King Umberto I.
As at 31 December 1895, Monza had
about 37,500 permanent inhabitants, with "31 internal roads"
approximately 42 kilometers long. Around these roads there was the
countryside that produced wheat, corn, fodder, potatoes, oats, rye and
vegetables in general. Another source of wealth was the breeding of
silkworms (the bigatts) whose cocoons were processed by the Brianza
spinning mills. On 17 August 1899 the Catholic weekly "il Cittadino" was
founded (director Filippo Meda), which is still active today.
On
July 29, 1900, the King of Italy Umberto I was assassinated in Monza by
the anarchist Gaetano Bresci. In 1910, the Expiatory Chapel was
completed, built to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the
assassination of Umberto I.
At the beginning of the century,
Monza had 41,200 inhabitants; in 1911 it was numbered among the eight
most industrialized centers in Italy. The main activities remain those
related to the processing of cotton, mechanics and the hat factories
industries.
The First World War (1915-1918) also involved Monza
like the other Italian cities; at the end of the war the city wanted to
commemorate its six hundred fallen with the grandiose monument (1932) by
the sculptor E.Pancera, located in piazza Trento e Trieste (the ancient
market square).
In the period between the two world wars, the
industrial structure of the city did not undergo substantial changes,
despite registering significant increases in production volumes. The
consequent building development was considerable and sometimes messy; in
1925 an attempt was made to bring order to town planning with a special
regulatory plan.
The ancient buildings that seemed to obstruct
the market were demolished, the ancient market square was changed into
the current Trento and Trieste square in front of which the new Palazzo
del Comune was built according to a design by the architect Brusconi.
The motor racing circuit (1922) and a golf course (1925) were built
inside the park.
The Second World War involved bombing,
destruction and civilian casualties for the city of Monza and, after
1943, the Nazi occupation.
During the war Monza was not directly
involved in clashes but was subjected to repeated bombings and strafing
by the Anglo-American air force during all five years of the conflict:
the first bombing, by flares for intimidation purposes, dates back to 17
June 1940, just seven days after Italy entered the war, and the last one
on the night of April 11, 1945.
Two sirens warned the population:
one in the city center managed by the fire brigade and one, connected to
the first, on a Philips building in via Borgazzi, assisted during the
frequent bombings of 1945 by the main bell of the Monza Cathedral. The
city's anti-aircraft defences, insufficient, were two anti-aircraft
batteries for the whole area of Monza and Lissone, moved in 1943, two
machine guns on the GIL house, and, after the Nazi occupation, some
cannon emplacements placed between San Fruttuoso and the Rondo. The main
communication routes were equipped with splinter-guard trenches and
during the day municipal officials signaled the approach of enemy
aircraft with white flags every two or three kilometres.
Immediately after the racial laws and even more during the war years
under pressure from the podestà Ulisse Cattaneo, persecutions took place
in Monza against the two Monza Jewish families, the Colombos and the
Levis, both of whom will have among their members victims in the camp of
concentration camp in Auschwitz, and other Jews residing in or passing
through Monza, the Nüremberg brothers, the displaced Milanese Enzo
Namias, who also died in Auschwitz, and seven Jews hospitalized in the
Villa Biffi nursing home, including Clara Finzi, deported after the
birth, and Dorotea Pisetzky, mentally ill deported to the concentration
camp of Bolzano near Gries and killed by the tortures of the guards,
today buried in the Jewish camp of the Monumental Cemetery of Milan.
Already during the first years of the war anti-fascist groups were
active in Monza who met clandestinely in the office of the lawyer
Fortunato Scali. During 1943, a group of anti-fascists from Monza, led
by Gianni Citterio, a PCI militant and central figure of the city's
Resistance, founded the "Anti-fascist Action Front", a clandestine
political organization which also printed the newspaper "Pace e Libertà"
in the house by Antonio Gambacorti Passerini at Olgiate Calco, until the
fall of fascism in September 1943. The group was active in anti-fascist
propaganda, through the dissemination of leaflets and posters, and will
be the basis from which the Monza CLN will be formed.
In the
city's resistance, the figure of Giovanni Battista Stucchi from Monza
should also be remembered, an Alpine soldier who returned from the
Italian expedition to Russia who joined the partisan struggle after the
fall of Fascism in 1943, holding leading roles as a socialist member of
the CLNAI military command and Sole military commander of the partisan
Republic of Ossola.
On 8 September 1943, on the occasion of the
armistice, Gianni Citterio, with the members of the "Anti-Fascist Action
Front" and the representatives of the democratic parties, addressed the
citizens from the balcony of the Town Hall, inciting the Monzese to
resistance and armed struggle against fascism and against the German
invader.
A few days later, on 12 September 1943, the Nazi
occupation of Monza began, Wehrmacht troops entered the city and set up
their command at the municipal slaughterhouse (between via Mentana and
via Buonarroti). A capillary occupation of the city followed with the
complicity of the local fascist commands, the installation of the square
command in the house of the Fascio, of a military garrison near San
Fruttuoso and of the operational command of the SS for all of
northern-western Italy in the villas around the Royal Villa.
During the occupation, from April 1944, the Political Investigative
Office, set up by the Republican fascists under the Republican National
Guard, distinguished itself for brutality and torture with the task of
investigating and repressing political crimes, one of the three
detachments of which had headquarters in Monza. The anti-partisan
repression, in collaboration with the Germans, was carried out with
violent interrogations and systematic torture in the Villa Reale and in
the adjacent villas in via Tommaso Grossi, in the municipal
slaughterhouse, opposite the prison in via Mentana then in use, and in
the Casa della GIL, today Urban Center. In the framework of the fascist
repression, the city's Black Brigades were also active, with abuses and
requisitions on the population, and the "Banda Pennacchio", a repression
band aggregated under the command of the Monza SS.
On the morning
of 25 April 1945, with the city still under Nazi occupation and with a
huge fascist presence, while the partisan brigades were descending from
all over Brianza, the members of the CLN of Monza sought a meeting with
the German command to avoid bloody clashes and reprisals on the
population. This interview also marked the last documented presence of
SS sergeant Siegfried Werning, a war criminal who will lose track of
himself. The meeting, without an agreement of surrender being reached,
led to a "truce of arms" dictated by the stalemate starting from zero
o'clock on April 25 itself, for which the Germans did not interfere with
the events of the Insurrection, thus managing to limit the armed clashes
that took place in the city between 25 and 26 April 1945, which however
recorded some civilian casualties. On 26 April the CLN took office in
the Town Hall and the socialist Enrico Farè, a member of the CLN and
already the last mayor of the city before Fascism, was appointed first
mayor of the Liberation, who on 30 April appointed the municipal
council.
On April 29, 1945, the American soldiers of the 1st
armored division entered the city, making contact, thanks to the
mediation of the archpriest of Monza, Monsignor Giovanni Rigamonti, with
the SS still barricaded in their headquarters and imposing their
surrender. On April 30, 1945, the Germans therefore left the city.
At the end of the war Monza counted eighty-three partisans and
deportees who died at the hands of the Nazi-fascists, including Gianni
Citterio, decorated with the Gold Medal for Military Valor in Memory,
Ferdinando Tacoli, Silver Medal for Military Valor in Memory, to whom
the elementary school located in the Triante district was dedicated, and
Elisa Sala.
From the second post-war period to the new millennium
In the second half of the century the city experienced a significant
increase in population and a consequent building development. With the
development of the various activities, problems associated with traffic
and connections with nearby centres, above all with Milan, arose.
At the beginning of the century Monza had about 120,000 inhabitants.
The University of Milano-Bicocca places its campus in Monza for the
Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and Organizational Sciences.
In
the spring of 2009, the controversial rearrangement of piazza Trento e
Trieste (the ancient medieval 'Pratum magnum') was completed: on this
occasion, part of the course of the irrigation ditch formerly used by
weaving craftsmen was brought to light.
Its territory is crossed from north to south by the river Lambro. At
the northern entrance to the historic centre, between via Zanzi and via
Aliprandi, a fork in the river artificially created for defensive
purposes in the first decades of the fourteenth century gives rise to
the Lambretto, which rejoins the main course of the Lambro at its
southern exit from the ancient circle of walls (today completely
demolished). Another waterway, also artificial, is the Villoresi Canal,
built in the 19th century, which crosses the Monza area from west to
east, crossing the Lambro at the northern border of the San Rocco
district. The architect and designer Gualtiero Galmanini was the author
of the urban plans of the city of Monza in the 20th century.
The
hydrography of Monza and the area of the neighboring municipalities is
particularly complex, both for natural causes, given the conspicuous
presence of rivers, streams and springs, which form a veritable tangle
of water, and for issues related to canalization and diversion of
watercourses carried out by man, having its beginning during the Roman
era, which led to the creation of numerous irrigation ditches, canals
and artificial lakes. Since water is abundant and easily accessible, the
ancient Romans never built aqueducts in the Monza area.
The most
important waterways that affect Monza and the neighboring municipalities
are the Lambro, Adda and Seveso rivers, the Molgora, Certesa, Molgoretta
streams, and the Villoresi canal.
Monza is located in the Po Valley basin and is characterized by a
subcontinental climate with an annual temperature range lower than that
found in the cities of the lower Po Valley, due to its altitude and
proximity to the Alps.
Monza, unlike most of the Po Valley, has a
lower humidity rate which stands at 70%. Winters in Monza are therefore
much colder than those of the coastal cities, without however reaching
the typical extremes of central Europe thanks to the southernmost
latitude and the protection provided by the Alps. Summers, on the other
hand, are hot and decidedly muggy.
Overall, rainfall in the Monza
area is well distributed throughout the year, even if the winter season
records relatively long periods without rainfall, with a minimum of
about 40 mm in February. The shoulder seasons are rainy, especially
mid-autumn and spring.
Before the 1990s, winter snowfalls were
frequent. Considering the period from the sixties to the nineties of the
twentieth century, the "average snow" of the city of Monza (i.e. the
total average annual centimeters of snow accumulation) is lower than
that of some cities in the north-west and the Emilia (such as Piacenza,
Parma, Bologna, Turin), but higher than other cities in the north-east
(such as Udine, Verona, Venice) stopping at 25.2 cm per year in the
city.
The thermal extremes of Monza are generally 30 °C the
maximum and the minimum -2 °C.
Below is the table with the
climatic averages and the absolute maximum and minimum values recorded
in the thirty-year period 1971-2001 and published in the Italian Climate
Atlas of the Air Force Meteorological Service relating to the
aforementioned thirty-year period.