Monza

Monza (mōnˈtsä) [key], city (1991 pop. 120,651), Lombardy, N Italy. Manufactures of this highly diversified industrial center include felt hats, carpets, textiles, glass, plastics, and machinery. The history of Monza is closely related to that of Milan. The cathedral, founded (6th cent.) by the Lombard queen Theodolinda, contains the iron crown of Lombardy, which was made, according to tradition, from a nail of Christ's cross and which was used to crown Charlemagne, Charles V, Napoleon I, and other emperors as kings of Lombardy or of Italy. An expiatory chapel was built (1910) at the place where King Humbert I was assassinated in 1900. Monza has the Autodromo, a major automobile racetrack (rebuilt 1955).

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