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The Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland) a.k.a “II Vittoriano” is a controversial monument built in honour of Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy. It also holds a guarded eternal flame at the tomb of an unknown Italian soldier from WWI. The monument is controversial since its construction destroyed a large area of the Capitoline Hill with a Medieval neighbourhood for its sake. The monument itself is often regarded as pompous and too large. It has been described as being “chopped with terrible brutality into the immensely complicated fabric of the hill.” The monument is also glaringly white, making it highly conspicuous amidst the generally brownish buildings surrounding it, and its stacked, crowded nature has lent it several nicknames. Foreign people sometimes refer to the structure by a variety of nicknames, such as “the wedding cake”, whereas Romans commonly call it “the typewriter”.
Address: Piazza Venezia, 00186 Rome
Opening hours: Daily 9:30am – 5:30pm (Summer), 9:30am – 4:30pm (Winter)
Direction: Bus to Piazza Venezia
Phone: +39 06 678 0664
Website: www.060608.it/it/cultura-e-svago/beni-culturali/beni-architettonici-e-storici/monumento-a-vittorio-emanuele-ii-vittoriano.html
Photo credit: Fczarnowski, Codice1000.en
