The Royal Villa in Monza, built in 1777, was commissioned by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria for her son, the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. The villa, designed by Giuseppe Piermarini, was initially rented from the Alari Counts. Constructed on the banks of the Lambro river and situated in Monza Park, one of Europe's largest enclosed parks, the villa served as a summer retreat. However, the Archduke ordered many additions, designed by Piermarini as well, making it his country residence until the arrival of the French army in 1796.
While the villa continued to serve as a royal residence during the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, it housed the Viceroy, Eugène de Beauharnais, the future Emperor Napoleon III. It's known that Luigi Canonica was commissioned to improve the structure during the Napoleonic period, and it's during this time that a theatre was built on the north wing. However, during the Kingdom of Italy of the House of Savoy, the Royal Villa lost its function as a royal residence following the murder of King Umberto I in Monza in 1900 by an anarchist, Gaetano Bresci.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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