The huge white monument on Piazza Venezia honors Italy's first king and the Unknown Soldier. Romans have nicknamed it the "typewriter" and the "wedding cake". Here's what you're looking at, and what to listen for when you get there.
To make room, a medieval neighborhood on the slope of the Capitoline Hill was demolished. The bright white marble from Brescia never matched Rome's warm travertine, which is part of why the monument divided Romans from the start.
In 1921 the body of an unidentified soldier from the First World War was buried at the Altar of the Fatherland, chosen by the mother of a missing soldier from 11 coffins. Two soldiers guard it day and night.
Before the bronze statue of Victor Emmanuel II was put in place, its sculptors held a dinner inside the horse's belly. The statue is about 12 meters tall.
A national monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of unified Italy, which also holds the Altar of the Fatherland and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Construction began in 1885. It was inaugurated in 1911 and finished in 1935.
Yes. A glass elevator takes visitors to the terrace on the roof, with a ticket.