Altar of the Fatherland (Altare della Patria) – It’s more than just a white enormous monument

It's not hard to miss this monument, it was actually the first architecture I saw when I step foot in Rome. Of course, whether it’s on my itinerary or not I would still see it because K parked his car just beside it. When you want to explore Rome, it is best done by foot. So, we parked the car, put coins on the meter and started going through the Rome Guide book K gave me. First stop was, you should have guessed by now; the Altar of the Fatherland.


Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland) also known as the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II ( Vittorio Emanuel II monument), an enormous white marble monument in the central hub of Rome located between Piazza Venezia and the Capitoline Hill, and was built  to honour Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of a unified Italy. 

Standing at 135 m (443 ft) wide and 70 m (230 ft) high, and if you would include the  quadrangle and winged victories, the height is to 81 m (266 ft). The monument is located in the city centre, close to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum and can be considered the most famous and representative monument of Roman history. 

It made me feel small, literally small. 

Designed by Giuseppe Sacconi and was built at the end of 19th century, it is the largest monument to be ever built with white marble Botticino (Brescia). The monument also contains the tomb of the First World War's unknown soldiers and a museum of the Italian Reunification. The central section of the monument known as the ‘Altar of the Fatherland’, a name that quickly came to represent the entire monument was designed by the sculptor Angelo Zanelli and was inspired by the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil.

After the death of Giuseppe Sacconi in 1905, it was taken over by Gaetano Koch, then Manfredo Manfredi and finally Pio Piacentini before it was finally completed in 1935, long after its inauguration in 1911. 

The monument garnered controversies because it destroyed a large area of the Capitoline Hill surrounded by a vast medieval community, and often regarded as too large, too white and pompous. Tourist refers to it with unflattering nicknames, such as "the wedding cake", "the typewriter" or even “the false teeth”.

Still, Romans doesn't seem to like it.

Did anyone of you know about this? Interesting, right. 

Despite all the criticism, the monument still attracts a large number of visitors.  

It might not be the main tourist attraction in Rome, but stopping for a few minutes to admire it won't take a lot of your time. Like what we did. Sometimes, no matter how we dislike certain things or in this case how (some) people might dislike this monument, beyond that let's consider the history behind it. 

And, what makes it more interesting are learning important facts about the statues/symbols on the monument, they actually have meanings (if you could see on the second image with arrows). 

I must say, history with characteristic and charm.

Altar of the Fatherland - Entrance is free (Elevator is 7€)
Entrance at Via Ara Coeli, 
next to Piazza Venezia,
around Via del Corso
Elevator Mon.–Thurs. 
9:30–5:45; Fri. and weekends 
9:30–6:45; stairs open winter 
9:30–4:30, summer 9:30–5:30
+39 06 678 0664
www.060608.it

Altar of the Fatherland Musuem ( Museo del Risorgimento) - Entrance is free
Via di San Pietro in Carcere
9:00 am-5:30o pm daily except Mondays
www.risorgimento.it