Despite numerous visits to Rome, I’d managed to omit a visit to the Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland), also known as Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument to Victor Emmanuel II) or “Il Vittoriano” — or, less formally, “the wedding cake”. I thought I should rectify this omission, given that the building is visible from just about everywhere in Rome, and I’d hurried by it many times on my, er, way to the Forum.
This monstrosity of a building stands at the base of the Capitoline Hill (and destroyed a great chunk of the Hill when it was built), and has the Ancient Roman Forum behind it and the elegant medieval facades of Piazza Venezia in front of it. It was built between 1885 to 1925, in honour of the first king of unified Italy, and it now houses not only a Museum of Italian Unification and a Museum of Italian Immigration (all information at this one is in Italian only, sad to say), but also the Tomb of an Unknown Soldier (entombed after the first World War).
“The Wedding Cake”
Wiki tells us:
“To date, the Vittoriano is the largest monument in white marble Botticino (Brescia) ever created, and features stairways, Corinthian columns, fountains, an equestrian sculpture of Victor Emmanuel and two statues of the goddess Victoria riding on quadrigas. The structure is 135 m (443 ft) wide and 70 m (230 ft) high. If the quadrigae and winged victories are included, the height is to 81 m (266 ft). It has a total area of 17,000 square meters.”
In 2007 a panoramic lift was added to the building, making it possible to access a wonderful view of Rome, improving its popularity. There’s also quite a nice café up there. So despite the building’s vivid whiteness and the desecration of a site that’s been the heart of Rome for millenia, there’s some compensation.
la vie boheme travel 