Tom`s travels: Monza (22/10/2015)

I left Milan with my brother not too early in the morning since he had a day off from work and wanted to visit a city on a day trip with me. We got a bus from his house to San Cristoforo train station and from there got a regional ticket on line S9 (cost was around 2,50€) to the city of Monza. Once we reached the town we headed straight to the tourist office, which stands right across the street and asked for information regarding the opening and closing hours of the main monuments. So we started walking towards the city center and reached Piazza Roma, where the really nice 13th century medieval town hall, called the Arengario, sits with its beautiful arches and red brick structure. From there we headed for the museum of the Duomo; there we asked when the next guided tour to the Treasury was going to take place and they answered that we had to wait about another hour. So we decided to look for a place to eat in the meantime since it was already 1pm. We found a nice place called Antica Trattoria dell'Uva, where I had a really nice risotto tastasal (with a type of sausage): very good! After lunch we headed back to the Cathedral's museum where the visit to the Chapel of Theodelinda took place. The Chapel built at the end of the 14th century is completely frescoed with a series of beautiful stories regarding the Longobard Queen Theodelinda. These frescoes date to mid 15th century by lombard artist brothers Zavattari and depict the queen's marriage, meeting with her first husband Authari, the latter's death in battle and her new marriage with Agilulf. The extreme beauty and vivid colors of the frescoes, in particular the gold still found on the queen's vests and warriors' armors make it extremely famous and important. However, what is even more beautiful and important, is the incredible Iron Crown of Lombardy; both a reliquary and one of the oldest royal insignia of Christendom. It was made probably around the 8th or 9th centuries and consists of a circlet of gold believed to be fitted around a central iron band, which according to legend was beaten out of a nail of the True Cross. It had been used to crown kings in Italy since the medieval times up until its last coronation with Napoleon. It was just marvelous to look at and definitely just worth the whole trip there. It was unfortunate however that no photographs, not of the crown nor of the frescoes, were permitted. After this wonderful visit, we went downstairs to visit the museum containing the main relics and artifacts that used to be on display inside the cathedral. I was even more amazed here because so many beautiful and important historical artifacts were displayed. Among others were the crown of Theodelinda from the 6th century, Stilicho's Diptych (ivory tablet) from the 5th century, Agilulf's cross from the 7th century and Berengar's one from the 10th etc. Another interesting thing inside the museum was the dress the Alabardieri of the Duomo wore: a ceremonial armed guard, similar to the Papal swiss guard, that served the Cathedral of Monza (a rare privilige). After thoroughly visiting this splendid museum. we decided to visit the actual Cathedral itself. So we entered through the side door from the museum and looked around. The Duomo was built in a really elegant Gothic style in the 14th century, but was later refurbished, especially the interior paintings and decorations, in the Baroque way. Right outside the museum's entrance are a few medieval half timbered houses still standing and at the end of the street a medieval tower known as Theodelinda's tower. Walking back through the city center we headed north, and passed by the gothic church of San Pietro which was unfortunately closed. We then reached and entered the church of Santa Maria al Carrobiolo, with a Baroque interior. From there we headed further north and reached our last stop for the day: the immense Royal Villa. Surrounded by one of the largest enclosed parks in Europe (it also has a famous race track in its northern part), the villa was built between 1777 and 1780 when Lombardy was under Austrian rule for the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. It was then taken over by Napoleon and then later on from 1861 to 1901 used as a royal residence of the kings of Italy. It was abandoned following the murder of Humbert I right outside the villa. It is now a beautiful museum showing the rooms of Humbert and his wife with all the original furniture. There was a guided visit that showed us all around though it wasn't permitted to take photographs here either. While we were waiting for the tour we also got the chance to explore the English landscape gardens right behind the villa, with beautiful lakes, trees and also lovely animals such as squirrels all over and even a really small friendly hedgehog. Walking back towards the train station we briefly stopped to look at the Ponte dei Leoni, or Bridge of the Lions, built on top of a much older ancient roman one, it was rebuilt in the 18th century with some nice statues of lions on its top. After our really enjoyable visit of the city of Monza we took the train back to Milan and back home.