On the first Sunday of September, since 1922, the world looks at Monza: the racetrack inside its park is among the oldest and fastest circuits anywhere, Formula 1's "temple of speed". But the city holds a treasure older than petrol: in the cathedral, the Theodelinda chapel frescoed by the Zavattari keeps the Iron Crown, used to crown kings and emperors — Napoleon included.
Piermarini's Royal Villa (1777) and its walled park, among Europe's largest, complete an elegant town happy to live in Milan's shadow — fifteen minutes by train, at an entirely different pace.
Near Monza
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
