That park, laid out in the early nineteenth century around the Villa Reale, the royal residence of the Austrian and later Italian rulers, is the largest walled park in Europe, with meadows, woods and the Lambro river running through it. In the middle of it, the Monza racetrack, built in 1922, is known as the Temple of Speed, and the Italian Grand Prix has been held here for most of the history of Formula One.
If the engine is on your mind, you are in the right place. On race weekends, in early September, the whole area shakes with sound, and even on ordinary days you can sometimes hear cars and bikes testing. The town of Monza has a cathedral with the Iron Crown, said to hold a nail from the cross, with which the kings of Italy were crowned, and the whole region has long been home to craftsmen, especially furniture makers, whose workshops line the roads.
The ride from Lake Como ends here, and the way in is classic Lombardy: the road drops from the hills of Lecco through a continuous string of small towns, with traffic lights, roundabouts and warehouses, and the whole thing seems to run together. It is slow, but tolerable, and there are quieter ways, such as the cycle route along the Lambro. In winter, fog hangs in the valley, and on summer evenings the traffic builds as people return from the lakes.
You are among eleven thousand people in Biassono and seven and a half thousand in Sovico, so petrol stations and bars are everywhere. The restaurants nearby serve polenta, risotto and braised meats. If you have time, the park is worth an hour; motorcycles are not allowed on its paths, but you can walk or cycle, and the shade of the old trees is welcome after a long ride. Leave the bike in a car park at the edge, and enjoy the quiet.