Monza

Monza
Monza
Comune
	Comune di Monza
	A collage showing different features of the city of Monza.
	Location of Monza
Country	Italy
Region	Lombardy
Province	Monza and Brianza (MB)
Government
• Mayor	Marco Maria Mariani
Area
• Total	33.03 km2 (12.75 sq mi)
Elevation	162 m (531 ft)
Population (30 April 2009)
• Total	121,466
• Density	3,700/km2 (9,500/sq mi)
Demonym	Monzesi
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	20900
Dialing code	039
Patron saint	St. John the Baptist, St. Gerardo dei Tintori
Saint day	June 24
Website	Official website

Monza listen^ⓘ is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

On June 11, 2004 Monza was designated the capital of the new province of Monza and Brianza. The new administrative arrangement came fully into effect in summer 2009; previously, Monza was a comune within the province of Milan.

Monza is the third-largest city of Lombardy and the most important economic, industrial and administrative centre of the Brianza area, supporting a textile industry and a publishing trade.

Monza also hosts a Department of the University of Milan Bicocca, a Court of Justice and several offices of regional administration. Monza Park is one of the largest urban parks in Europe.

Climate

Monza has the typical submediterranean climate of the Po valley, with cool, short winters and warm summers; temperatures are very similar to Milan and vary from about 2°C (36°F) in January, the coldest month, to about 23°C (73°F) in July, the warmest.^[3] Precipitation is abundant, with a slight maximum in fall and a slight minimum in winter and summer; despite this, normally, the area of the city doesn't suffer drought in any season.

History

Origins in the Bronze Age

Late nineteenth-century finds of funerary urns show that the human presence in the area dates back at least to the Bronze Age, when people would have lived in settlements of pile dwellings raised above the rivers and marshes.

The Roman period

During the third century BCE the Romans subdued the Insubres, Gauls who had crossed the Alps and settled around Mediolanum (now Milan). A gallo-celtic tribe, who also seem to have been Insubres, then founded a village on the Lambro, of which the ruins of a bridge remain. Standing in a place where young people practised sports, the bridge was named ‘Arena’ and its remains can be seen near today’s Ponte dei Leoni (Lions Bridge).

During the Roman Empire the town was known as Modicia.

The Lombards

The Lombard invasion of Italy was an important event in Monza's history and the Lombard king Autari married Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian ruler Garibald I.

The new queen ordered the construction near the River Lambro of an oraculum, a sort of little church, that today is part of the basilica of Saint John. Paul the Deacon, an 8th century historian of the Lombards, tells us about this, writing: "[...] Theudelinda regina basilicam costruxerat, qui locus supra Mediolanum duodecim milibus abest, [...]" ("Theodelinda built a queen basilica, whose position is twelve miles from Milan"). There is also an important legend that Theodelinda, asleep while her husband was hunting, saw in a dream a dove who told her : "Modo", Latin for "here", in order to say that she should build the oraculum in that place, and the queen answered "etiam", meaning "yes". So from the two words "modo" and "etiam", following the legend, would have derived "Modoetia", the medieval name of Monza.

Subsequent events

In the Middle Ages, the commune of Monza was sometimes independent, sometimes subject to Milan and the Visconti.

The first rail road built in North Italy was the Milan and Monza Rail Road opened for service on August 17, 1840.

On the evening of 29 July 1900 King Umberto I of Italy was assassinated in Monza by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci.

Main sights

In the course of its history Monza withstood thirty-two sieges, but the Porta d'Agrate is all that remains of its original walls and fortifications. Nearby is the nunnery in which the nun of Monza was enclosed in Manzoni's I Promessi Sposi.

Monza is famous for its Romanesque-Gothic Duomo of Saint John. There Theodelinda's centrally-planned Greek-cross oraculum ("chapel of prayer") of ca 595 (its foundations remaining under the crossing of nave and transept) was enlarged at the close of the 13th century by enclosing the former atrium within the building. The fine black and-white marble arcaded facade was erected in the mid-14th century by Matteo da Campione. The campanile was erected in 1606 to designs by Pellegrino Tibaldi. In the frescoed Chapel of Theodelinda is the Iron Crown of Lombardy, supposed to contain one of the nails used at the Crucifixion. The treasury also contains the crown, fan and gold comb of Theodelinda, and, as well as Gothic crosses and reliquaries, a golden hen and seven chickens, representing Lombardy and her seven provinces. Though the interior has suffered changes, there is a fine relief by Matteo da Campione representing a royal Lombard coronation, and some 15th-century frescoes with scenes from the life of Theodelinda.

The historical centre also include:

the church of Santa Maria in Strada, with a rich terra-cotta facade of 1393
the Broletto or Arengario, the 14th-century palace of the civic commune, raised on an arcade of pointed arches, with a tall square machiolated tower terminating in a sharp central cone.
the church of San Pietro Martire
the memorial Cappella Espiatoria, built in 1900 in memory of the assassinated King Umberto I of Italy
Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (15ht century)
Oratory of St. Gregory (17th century)
church of Santa Maria al Carrobiolo (16th century)

Nearby, the royal villa (Villa Reale) originally built by Giuseppe Piermarini in 1777 for the archduke Ferdinand of Austria, lies on the banks of the Lambro, surrounded by Monza Park, one of the largest enclosed parks in Europe.

Other villas includes the Mirabello, Mirabellino, Durini, Crivelli Mesmer, Prata, Archinto Pennati, Calloni and Villa Carminati-Ferrario.

Theatres and cinemas

Teatro Manzoni (Manzoni Theatre)
Teatro Villoresi (Villoresi Theatre)
Teatro Binario 7 (Binario 7 Theatre)
Sala San Carlo
AreaOdeon
Cinema Capitol
Cinema Metropol
Cinema Teodolinda

Sport

Monza is internationally known for the Autodromo Nazionale Monza motor racing circuit, home to the Italian Grand Prix, and previously to the Alfa Romeo team. The circuit is inside the "Parco di Monza", a park that is double the size of New York's Central Park.

Monza is also known for the "Villa Reale", a Habsburg family residence built in 1777.

The professional football club A.C. Monza Brianza 1912 play, currently in Serie C1, at the Stadio Brianteo.

The professional volleyball club Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Monza Brianza play, currently in Serie A1, at the PalaIper.

In 2006 Monza hosted the World Cyber Games tournament.

In July 2005 and July 2008, Monza hosted the "International Gran Galà Marching Show Bands" at Stadio Brianteo (with the USA band Blue Devils, 11 times WMSB Champion of the World).^{[citation needed]}

Transportation

Monza can be reached through the following motorways: A4-E64 (Turin-Milan-Venice), A52 (North Ring of Milan), A51 (East Ring of Milan). State road (SS.36 - Nuova Valassina) connect the city to Lecco and Sondrio. A 2 km long tunnel will be added by around September 2011 and will alleviate traffic problems that are happening in the city.

Every few minutes, trains travel between Monza and Milano via the Suburban Railway (Line S9) and via local trains that connected Monza to Lecco, Como/Chiasso (CH) and Bergamo/Brescia. Also some Eurocity trains stop in Monza. In the beginning of 2008 work will be started for the expansion of Subway Line MM1 from Milano/Sesto San Giovanni to Monza Bettola.