La Cappella Espiatoria is a memorial in Monza, commissioned by Vittorio Emanuele III to commemorate the assassination of his father, Umberto I. The king, shortly after his father’s death (which occurred on July 29, 1900), entrusted the project to architect Giuseppe Sacconi, who had already designed the Vittoriano in Rome. The work was completed in 1910, so as to be ready for the tenth anniversary of the attack. The monument, built on the exact spot of the assassination, is surrounded by a tree-lined garden, enclosed by a wrought iron fence. The interior of the temple, with a circular plan, is covered with mosaics inspired by Byzantine art and marbles of various colors and origins. Various mosaic subjects depict, in the vaults, angels with the symbols of the Passion of Christ and, in the roundels, saints and blesseds from the House of Savoy. From the outside, one can access the underlying crypt, with a Greek cross plan, covered in polychrome marbles and bronzes. The vaults are mosaics depicting a starry sky. At the intersection of the four arms of the crypt is a black marble stele engraved with the date July 29, 1900, to remember the spot where King Umberto I was shot down by the anarchist Bresci. A faint golden light filters through ten windows closed with alabaster slabs. Every July 29, as has happened since 1911, a commemoration ceremony of the regicide takes place with a celebration in the chapel. A few years later, the monument was visited by Benito Mussolini, who carved the inscription: Monumento a Bresci with a stone. At night, every July 29, the monument is illuminated from within through the two alabaster crosses.
Information about Cappella espiatoria
Via Matteo da Campione , 7/a
20052 Monza (Monza e della Brianza)
Source: MIBACT
