An EXPOnential success.
On the 26th June 2014 a public ceremony was held to celebrate the end of the restoration works of the Monza Villa and Royal Park, started in 2003 with an international call for tender and project to promote and enhance a representative site of Italian history and culture . Besides restoring a heritage monument with high institutional relevance, the project was intended to become an ideal bridge between the Milan Expo and the Brianza Region of the so-called “Made in Italy”, a region particularly renowned for the production of world-famous products of excellence.
A restoration born under the sign of Venus.
Venere, the luminous body created by Album in 2009, became the protagonist of the restoration of some rooms of the villa, transformed by CLS Architetti di Milano into the “Le cucine di Villa Reale” restaurant. To enhance the remarkable hall characterized by vaulted ceilings, the Milanese firm chose to use the lighting system Universo Led by Album, by installing as many as 840 Venere luminous bodies. The system is powered by a spherical rosette in frosted glass from which numerous plait-like cables spread out and on which the Venere luminous bodies are hung, to illuminate only where necessary and enhance the room according to personal creative needs. Moreover with only 2 Watts per luminous body, Venere guarantees lighting for 700 sqm and energy saving that is as powerful as it is easy to maintain. The result is a restoration that, under the close supervision of the Sovrintendenza delle Belle Arti highlights the perfect harmony between the beauty of a historical residence and representatives of modern Italian design, hence instilling new energy into a building which is part of the national heritage.
A piece of Italian history and heritage.
The history of the Villa Reale starts in 1777, when the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, son of Maria Theresa of Austria and new governor of the Duchy of Milan, entrusted the architect Giuseppe Piermarini to build a villa to be used as a residence for royal vacation and a place to meet Lombardy nobles.
The villa was built in a strategic location thanks to its closeness to the Milanese capital and the quality of the grounds characterized by their rich and impressive vegetation.
At the end of the short period between 1805 and 1815 during which it was handed over to the French Eugène de Beauharnais, stepson of the then Emperor Napoleon, the royal residence returned to be the property of the Austrians, reaching full splendor between 1857 and 1859 with Maximilian I of the House of Habsburg.
With the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy and the arrival of the Savoia Family, Villa Reale became the favourite residence of Humbert I and, with the supervision of the architect Majnoni, it was radically restored in accordance with the tastes of the time. But when in 1900 King Humbert was assassinated right in Monza, the new king Victor Emmanuel III transferred most of its furniture to the Quirinale in Rome, and in 1934 handed it over to the municipalities of Monza and Milan, thus leading it to a progressive decline.
Thanks to the renewed interest towards the historical and artistic value of the architectural complex and the inestimable natural value of its park, today Villa Reale has been restored to its former splendour with its newly-found strategic and cultural relevance.
