The Victor Emmanuel II National Monument — the Vittoriano, or Altare della Patria — covers the northern slope of the Capitoline Hill above Piazza Venezia. Italy's parliament voted to build it in 1878, the year the first king of unified Italy died; two international competitions followed, the first won by Frenchman Henri-Paul Nénot and then shelved amid controversy. Construction finally began in 1885 to Giuseppe Sacconi's design; the monument was inaugurated in 1911 for the fiftieth anniversary of unification, though work dragged on until 1935.
Sacconi imagined a modern forum: an agora on three levels linked by stairways, crowned by a portico of 15-metre columns. The numbers tell the scale of the enterprise — 135 metres wide, 70 metres high (81 including the bronze quadrigas), 243 steps in the outer stairways alone — and so do the demolitions that, between 1884 and 1899, erased a whole medieval quarter to make room for it.
What to see
The architectural centre is the equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II, the only non-allegorical work in the entire complex: everything else — winged Victories, personifications, plant symbols such as the laurel of victorious peace and the olive of concord — tells the story of unification in figures. On the middle terrace stands the Altar of the Fatherland proper, an altar of the goddess Roma that since 1921 has also held the shrine of the Italian Unknown Soldier: here the President of the Republic lays a laurel wreath on 25 April, 2 June and 4 November. The base of the monument houses the museum of Italian unification.
Visiting
The visit is an uphill walk across terraces and staircases designed without a single endpoint: there are two entrances to the upper level, one through each propylaeum. From the portico, 196 steps climb to the roof terrace; since 2007 a lift has taken visitors straight to the top, where the view over Rome runs a full 360 degrees.
Our editors' tip
Go up in late afternoon, when low light warms the marble: from the quadriga terrace you look down on the Forum and Colosseum on one side, Piazza Venezia and the domes of the city centre on the other. Before descending, find the dedications on the two propylaea — one to the unity of the homeland, the other to the freedom of citizens: the whole monument's programme condensed into a handful of words.