Monza, Villa Archinto Pennati

With the exception of the Villa Reale, the house of Counts Archinto is certainly the most imposing and important noble residence in Monza. The villa took on its present appearance around 1840 under the direction of Luigi Canonica, according to the most reliable attribution. The house remained the property of the Archinto family up to 1862, when Count Luigi sold it to the confraternity of the Barnabites, who converted it into a boarding-school. In 1873 the school was suppresed and the villa was bought by Filippo Pennati, who let it to the administration of the Royal House as long as Umberto I held court in Monza. Since that time the house has stayed with the same family, who continue to live there and to ensure that this invaluable example of Lombard neoclassicism is preserved.