Alongside the main courtyard of the monumental Villa Reale in Monza, a large rose garden was created in 1964 by the industrialist Niso Fumagalli, a great fan of the art of cultivating flowers and founder of the Italian Rose Association, headquartered in Monza.

In 2003, the rose garden - designed by the architects Clerici and Faglia - received an Award of Garden Excellence from the World Federation of Rose Societies. You can visit this rose garden and its extraordinary variety of roses for free. Standing on gently undulating terrain, it is also home to a pond and plenty of pathways for visitors.

The most fragrant roses can be found in a section of the rose garden called “Il giardino Segreto del Profumo” (The Secret Garden of Perfume) among the yew trees. One of the finest and most appreciated hybrids here is the ‘Bella di Monza’, which is two hundred years old. The hand? From the historical reconstructions, you could say that it was designed by Luigi Villoresi, appointed by Eugène de Beauharnais - the founder of the park - as head gardener of the Gardens of the Villa Reale in Monza.

From 1965 to 2015, the rose garden hosted 51 international rose trials with more than 4,000 new varieties created by rose gardeners from all over the world judged by leading international experts. Two really special patrons were Princess Grace Kelly and Nobel Prize winner Rita Levi Montalcini.