Piazza Venezia

Piazza Venezia is the roaring crossroads at the very centre of Rome, where Via del Corso, the Imperial Fora and the roads to the Capitoline Hill all converge. The square is dominated by the Altare della Patria, also called the Vittoriano: a mountain of white Botticino marble built between 1885 and 1935 to honour Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of unified Italy. Romans nickname it the typewriter or the wedding cake, but its scale up close is undeniably moving.

The monument holds the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, guarded day and night by an eternal flame and an honour guard, and a museum of the Italian unification. A panoramic lift climbs to the roof terrace between the two bronze chariots, where the 360-degree view sweeps from the Colosseum across the Forum rooftops to St. Peter's dome: one of the finest viewpoints in the city.

The square takes its name from Palazzo Venezia, the 15th-century palace on its western side that served as the Venetian embassy and later as Mussolini's headquarters; he delivered speeches from its central balcony. Just behind the Vittoriano, Michelangelo's elegant Piazza del Campidoglio crowns the Capitoline Hill, and Trajan's Column and the Imperial Fora begin immediately to the east.

Piazza Venezia works best as a hinge in a walking day: ten minutes down Via dei Fori Imperiali lies the Colosseum, ten minutes north along Via del Corso begins the shopping district, and the Jewish Ghetto and Campo de' Fiori are a short stroll west. Buses from all over the city stop here, and the new metro station of Line C is under construction beneath the square.

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