A long cycle path touching farmhouses and on houses along the water: Martesana lets you experience another, semi-rural and less hectic, Milano. People come here to jog, ride a bike or have an outdoor meal. From Martesana you can reach the very vast Parco Nord, Milano’s veritable green lung which also contains an open-air velodrome!

Cycling north, you arrive in the historic center of Monza. In Piazza Duomo, you’ll be awed by the splendid Duomo with its two-tone marble facade, large rose window, mullioned windows, spires and finely decorated aediculae. Inside, one the most precious treasuries of the world: the famous Iron Crown, made of gold and decorated with precious gems. According to tradition, the iron band inside the crown is made from one of the nails of the Crucifixion. Through the centuries, kings and emperors were crowned with this dazzling goldsmith masterpiece, from Charlemagne to Napoleon. Other precious finds are on display in the nearby Museum and Treasure of the Duomo.

Park your bike and walk on the elegant shopping street the leads to Arengario, the ancient 13th-century city hall, with a bell tower and a loggia balcony from where communal decrees were announced in the Middle Ages. At the time, the Arengario also housed markets and merchants, today it’s Monza’s meeting place before you hang out with friends.

Just pedal a few minutes outside the historic center to get to the Royal Villa of Monza. Built between 1777 and 1780 and designed by Giuseppe Piermarini (the same architect of Milano’s Teatro alla Scala), its halls hosted Eugene of Beauharnais, then the Habsburgs and finally the Savoy monarchs (one of them, Umberto I, was shot dead in Monza by an anarchist in 1900).

Visit the exquisite interiors, the Royal Gardens and the rose garden, the "Serrone", which often hosts art exhibitions. Then, cycle along the paths of Parco di Monza, more than 700 hectares of meadows and woods, secular trees, mills and farmhouses.

Discover events in and around Monza and plan your bike trip. In the park, the halls of Villa Mirabello come alive all year round with the cultural events of Mirabello Cultura, a long festival dedicated to art, literature and music.

On winter afternoons, the symphonic season "I Concerti a Monza" makes the notes of the most classical composers resonate in Sala Maddalena.

In May, the concert hall is the courtyard of honor of the Villa Reale of Monza, where you can admire the Niso Fumagalli Rose Garden in bloom and discover its history and botanic secrets thanks to guided tours organized by the Italian Rose Association.

Also unmissable is the Ville Aperte Festival in the surrounding Brianza province. Held twice a year, in spring and autumn, it is a unique opportunity to explore the patrician villas and their hidden treasures of this area of Lombardy.

For returning to Milano, you can bike your way back or you can put your bicycle on a train for Milano Porta Garibaldi and travel comfortable: the Monza railway station is near the city center, trains are frequent and the trip only takes a quarter of an hour.

If you want to extend your bike ride instead, from the Villa Reale Park you can get back on the saddle and pedal along the Lambro River across Lambro Valley Park. Along the 30 km of cycle path, you can discover thundreds of plant and animal species inhabiting the 8,000 hectares of woods and streams, the historic farmhouses (cascine), and the industrial workers' village of the Krumm spinning mill in Realdino. Among the hidden treasures of the Brianza province is also Villa Taverna in Triuggio, which every year opens its doors to gaping visitors for the duration of Ville Aperte in Brianza.