Royal Villa, Royal Palace of Monza

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, 70,000 sequins and another 35,000 for the park, 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.

For example, the first edition of the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts, promoted in 1923 by the Milan-Monza-Humanitarian Consortium, took place in the Villa Reale, as well as the subsequent ones of 1925 and 1927.

The 43 editions of the International Furniture Exhibition that have found accommodation right in the royal residence of Monza, permanently removed only in 1990, they burdened especially on the first floor and the noble one.

During these years also much of the precious furniture and furnishings have been moved or transferred elsewhere.

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The end of the nineties saw some important steps for the recovery of the Villa: in 1996 the free transfer of a large part of the compendium to the Municipalities of Milan and Monza took place and with the simultaneous maintenance of the avant-corps in the State Property as a horsewoman, the south wing and the Queen's apartment.

These are the years in which the recovery project of some of the main buildings in Milan such as Palazzo Reale and Villa Reale and of the Royal Palace of Monza begins.

Map: Royal Villa, Royal Palace of Monza