The Royal Villa of Monza, also called the Royal Palace of Monza, is a large neoclassical palace built in Monza by the Habsburgs - as a private residence - during the Austrian domination of the eighteenth century.
Become the residence of the viceroy with the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, it increasingly loses this function during the Kingdom of Italy of the Savoys, the last Royals to use it. Currently it hosts exhibitions, exhibitions and in one wing also the artistic high school of Monza.
Villa Reale di Monza History
The Villa was built by the will of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria between 1777 and 1780 as a summer residence for her son Ferdinand of Habsburg, governor general of Austrian Lombardy.
The site, located at the foot of the Brianza hills, was also chosen for its beauty, for its proximity to Monza and for its strategically important position along the Milan-Vienna route. The lavish investment planned for its construction meant that the country house wanted by the governor was replaced by a real palace.
The architect Piermarini designed a "U" building, in neoclassical style, according to the sober typological tradition of the Lombard villa, but inspired by the pomp and grandeur of the Royal Palace of Caserta, whose construction he had participated as a pupil of Vanvitelli. To the central body of representation were added two lateral wings for the master and guest rooms, and two other sections perpendicular to the main part, intended for servants, stables and tools, for a total of almost seven hundred rooms.
1900 for the Villa Reale in Monza is the century in which it begins its growing abandonment, the cause of the decay in which today a large part of the heritage goes. In addition to the improper and degrading use of the Villa's spaces during the two world wars, the twentieth century was also a time for various installations and artistic exhibitions which in various ways contributed to damage many parts of the Royal Palace.