The Expiatory Chapel stands in a small garden in the Monza Park, marking the spot where King Umberto I of Italy was shot by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci on 29 July 1900. The building is a graceful Art Nouveau structure with elements of Byzantine and Romanesque revival, its dome rising above the surrounding park trees. It is a quiet, somewhat melancholy place — a royal memorial in the middle of a public park where joggers and cyclists pass by the garden walls.
Inside, mosaics and marble decoration commemorate the king in appropriately ornate terms. The chapel is not always open, but the exterior and garden are accessible throughout the park's opening hours. For anyone interested in the turbulent political history of early 20th-century Italy, the combination of this chapel, the royal villa, and the circuit within the same park walls makes Monza a surprisingly layered destination.