Going Up the Altare della Patria

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Altare della Patria in Rome

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Altare della Patria in Rome

One of the stranger buildings here in Rome is the Altare della Patria. When I first saw it, I immediately thought that it was impossible the ancient Romans would have built something this bizarre. So far the buildings which I have seen here have all been very tasteful. However, the Altare della Patria is something totally different. As I thought, this structure isn’t really from ancient Rome but it was from a relatively more recent era. It was only completed in 1911, not really that surprising since the parts of the structure were farmed out to different people. This is a structure to commemorate Italy’s unification under Vittorio Emanuele, the first king of a unified Italy.

This Gives You And Idea of How Big This Structure is

This Gives You And Idea of How Big This Structure is

It is probably obvious by now that I don’t like this place at all. I was probably more curious to find out about why this structure was built in the first place. Perhaps there would be more weirdness when we visit inside. Unlike the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, the Altare della Patria was open even on May 1st which I thought was strange since May 1 should be a huge thing in Italy. We seem to need a lot of climbing for this place as the altar seems to go ever higher. The first area was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where soldiers are stationed to guard the place. Tombs of the Unknown Soldier can be found in other countries as well but this one is probably one of the more bizarre sites I have seen.

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