The National Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II or
(mole del) Vittoriano, called by synecdoche Altare della Patria, is
an Italian national monument located in Rome, in Piazza Venezia, on
the northern slope of the Capitoline Hill, the work of the architect
Giuseppe Sacconi. It is located in the center of ancient Rome and
connected to modern Rome thanks to roads that radiate off from
Piazza Venezia.
Its construction began in 1885 and the works
ended in 1935: however, already in 1911, the monument was officially
inaugurated and opened to the public, on the occasion of the
celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the unification of Italy.
From an architectural point of view it was conceived as a modern
forum, an agora on three levels connected by stairways and topped by
a portico characterized by a colonnade.
It has a great
representative value, being architecturally and artistically
centered on the Risorgimento, the complex process of national unity
and liberation from foreign domination carried out under the reign
of Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy, to whom the monument is dedicated:
for this reason the Vittoriano is considered one of the Italian
patri symbols. The Vittoriano contains the Altare della Patria,
first an altar of the goddess Rome and then, since 1921, also the
chapel of the Unknown Soldier. Since this element is perceived as
the emblematic center of the building, the whole monument is often
called the Altare della Patria.
Since its inauguration it has
been the scene of important celebratory moments. This has
accentuated its role as a symbol of national identity. The most
important celebrations that take place at the Vittoriano take place
annually on the occasion of the anniversary of the liberation of
Italy (25 April), the Italian Republic Day (2 June) and the Day of
National Unity and the Armed Forces (4 November ), during which the
President of the Italian Republic and the highest offices of the
State pay homage to the chapel of the Unknown Soldier by placing a
laurel wreath in memory of the fallen and missing Italians in the
wars.
The monument has a wide symbolic value representing -
thanks to the recall of the figure of Vittorio Emanuele II and the
construction of the Altare della Patria - a secular temple
metaphorically dedicated to free and united Italy and celebrating -
by virtue of the burial of the Soldier - the sacrifice for the
homeland and the associated ideals.
The premises
After the death of Vittorio Emanuele
II of Savoy, which took place on January 9, 1878, there were many
initiatives intended to raise a permanent monument to celebrate the
first king of united Italy, architect of the process of unification and
liberation from foreign domination. For this reason, Vittorio Emanuele
is indicated by historiography as one of the four "Fathers of the
Fatherland" together with Cavour, for his political and diplomatic work,
Garibaldi, for his military actions, and Mazzini, whose thought
enlightened the mind and the actions of Italian patriots. The aim was
therefore to commemorate the entire Risorgimento season through one of
its protagonists.
On March 26, 1878, the parliamentarian
Francesco Perroni Paladini deposited a bill with the Chamber of Deputies
of the Kingdom of Italy whose objective was to erect a permanent
monument dedicated to Vittorio Emanuele II to be built in Rome. On April
4, the government acknowledged this indication in the person of Giuseppe
Zanardelli, interior minister of the Kingdom of Italy, who filed a bill
with the same objective in the Council of Ministers. Zanardelli's bill
was approved by the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy on May 16, 1878
with 211 votes in favor and 10 against.
The two competitions
On 13 September 1880 the "Royal Commission for the Monument to Vittorio
Emanuele II" was established, which on the following 23 September
launched an international competition in which 311 competitors took
part. The public funds destined for the work would have been equal to 8
million lire, to which would have been added the money raised by a
popular subscription open to all Italians, even those who had moved
abroad between the end of the 19th and 1st centuries. early 20th
century. The competition was won by the Frenchman Henri-Paul Nénot, who,
however, was not followed by an implementation phase of the project.
It was decided not to pursue the project for various reasons. In
fact, heated controversies arose over the fact that a project by a
foreigner had been chosen for a monument representing a prominent figure
in Italian history. Furthermore, it was disputed that Nénot's idea was,
as discovered only later, a slightly updated version of his previous
project for the new Sorbonne headquarters, which he had already carried
out in 1877. To this was added the tension due to the so-called "slap of
Tunis", or the French occupation of Tunisia. Another reason that made
Nénot's project be discarded was the too much freedom granted to the
artists in choosing the place of construction and the type of monument
to be built, guidelines that had led to a flourishing of architectural
proposals that were too different from each other - in total there were
293 the projects deposited. They ranged from very simple monuments,
formed by monumental columns and equestrian statues, to complex and
large buildings.
The parliament then gave the Royal Commission
the mandate to launch a second competition, which this time, however,
should have established both the place of construction and the precise
characteristics of the building. Thus a heated debate was born,
regarding the choice of the place where to raise the monument: the
Capitoline Hill, the Piazza di Termini, which was on the border between
the historic center of Rome and more recent buildings ("between the old
and the new Rome ", as reported in the minutes of the royal commission),
or piazza Esedra or piazza della Rotonda, where the Pantheon stands,
where new monumental buildings would have risen.
Some members of
the Royal Commission, including President Depretis himself (who was also
President of the Council) were favorably impressed by the idea expressed
in the project by Ettore Ferrari and Pio Piacentini, second place in the
previous competition: that of building the monument on the Capitoline
Hill, a place that for millennia was representative of Roman power. This
in fact would have made the Vittoriano not only the memorial of the
first king of Italy, but the symbol of the capital Rome (the third
Rome), the true counterpart of St. Peter, the emblem of papal Rome, and
of the Colosseum, an icon of imperial Rome. The Royal Commission,
despite the opposition of eminent personalities of the culture of the
time, such as Rodolfo Lanciani and Ferdinand Gregorovius, therefore
approved the location of the monument on the Capitol.
A sign of
the bitter debate that had taken place was the immediate resignation of
the opposing members, worried about the demolition of historical and
artistic testimonies, which would have been necessary for the
construction of the monument in the chosen place. The choice took into
consideration the fact that on this hill of Rome there are the Palazzo
Senatorio and the Tabularium, monuments endowed with conspicuous
national symbolism and among the most representative of Roman antiquity:
they are in fact the symbol of the power of Rome and from them derives
the other name by which the Campidoglio is known ("Monte Capitolino",
whose etymology has to do with "capital"), since they housed the public
state archives of ancient Rome, from the decrees of the Roman Senate to
the treaties of peace.
It was decisive that only by building the
Vittoriano in the historic center of Rome, it could rival, even from a
"secular-spiritual" point of view, with the monuments of the Rome of the
popes: the aversion for Rome was still very much alive. of the Papal
State, personified by Pope Pius IX, a pontiff who put himself in sharp
contrast with the newborn Kingdom of Italy leading to the resurgence of
the Roman question.
The announcement of the second competition
therefore envisages the construction, next to the Ara Coeli basilica, of
an imposing marble monument characterized by ascending steps, with a
majestic colonnade on its top and with a statue of Vittorio Emanuele II
seated on a throne , which would have been the center of the
architectural complex. This was the project followed in the construction
of the Vittoriano with the variants of the case (the king's pose will
then be on horseback and not on a throne).
Participants in the
competition, which closed on February 9, 1884, had a year to deliver
their designs. The proposals presented were ninety-eight: since the
royal commission was unable to decide between the projects of Bruno
Schmitz, Manfredo Manfredi and Giuseppe Sacconi, it was necessary to
launch a third competition, limited however only to these three
proposals, which ended on the 24th. June 1884. Among the three projects,
the royal commission chose that of Giuseppe Sacconi, a young architect
from the Marche, who thus won the competition and had the task of
drawing up the detailed design of the Vittoriano.
The design
choices
The Vittoriano project was inspired by the great Hellenistic
sanctuaries, such as the Altar of Zeus in Pergamum and the Sanctuary of
Fortuna Primigenia in Palestrina. The Vittoriano was conceived as a vast
and modern forum open to citizens, located on a sort of raised square in
the historic center of Rome, organized as an agora on three levels
connected by steps, with conspicuous spaces reserved for the walk of
visitors.
On its top there would have been a majestic portico
characterized by a long colonnade and two imposing propylaea, one
dedicated to the "unity of the homeland" and the other to the "freedom
of citizens", concepts metaphorically linked, as already mentioned, to
the figure of Vittorio Emanuele II: it would therefore become one of the
symbols of the new Italy, alongside the monuments of ancient Rome and
those of the Rome of the popes. Having then been conceived as a large
public square, the Vittoriano, in addition to representing a memorial
dedicated to the person of the sovereign, was invested with another
role: a modern forum dedicated to the new free and united Italy.
From an architectural point of view, the monument must have consisted of
a series of stairways adapted to the steep sides of the Capitoline Hill,
north of the basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. The whole complex
would have appeared as a sort of marble covering of the northern slope
of the Colle del Campidoglio, being loaded with symbolic meanings linked
to the Risorgimento. The location also guaranteed two other advantages:
the Vittoriano would have been in line with Via del Corso, of which it
would have constituted the perspective vanishing point, and would have
overlooked an important urban hub, Piazza Venezia, of which Sacconi in
fact envisaged the expansion , to adapt the space to the grandeur and
symmetry of the monument.
The original design of the Vittoriano
(one of the most grandiose built in the 19th century in Italy) involved
the use of marble for the portico and travertine (traditional stone of
the buildings of ancient Rome) for the remaining part of the monument:
however the only Botticino marble, more easily modeled and more similar
to the white marbles that the ancient Romans used in the most
representative constructions. In reality, the first choice had been for
Carrara marble, but the request for a price deemed too high by the royal
commission prompted the latter, on 2 July 1889, to decree the use of
Botticino marble.
This material was also preferred above all for its
chromatic peculiarities: compared to Carrara marble, which is
characterized by an absolute white, Botticino marble has a white shade
that has a slight tendency to straw yellow, a characteristic that gives
it greater "warmth" ". Due to the change in the type of marble, which
would have provided a different brightness and an elegant two-tone in
sync with the travertine, Giuseppe Sacconi was forced to review the
project and made minor changes. The Vittoriano was enriched with further
friezes, trophies, bas-reliefs and small statues, all placed along the
perimeter walls which, overall, provided a visual impact comparable to
the two-tone due to the planned use of two different covering materials.
In order to then draw the observer's gaze towards the portico, in place
of a different covering material, Sacconi made the decorations of this
part of the monument more conspicuous by adding statues.
Botticino marble takes its name from its extraction area, Botticino, an
Italian town north-east of Brescia, which is about 500 kilometers from
Rome. The replacement of the travertine chosen by Sacconi thus generated
many controversies, which originated from the distance from Rome of the
Botticino marble quarries, considered excessive: a few kilometers
south-east of Rome, near the Tivoli, there are large deposits of
travertine, all 'today exploited in a variety of quarries by numerous
local companies.
The opening of the construction site and the
archaeological finds
The direction of the works was entrusted to
Giuseppe Sacconi with a royal decree dated 30 December 1884 and the
official opening of the site took place on 1 January 1885. The solemn
ceremony of laying the first stone of the Vittoriano took place on 22
March 1885 in the presence of King Umberto I of Savoy, Queen Margherita
of Savoy, the entire royal family and a large foreign representation.
During the first excavations in 1887, as everyone expected, the
compact tuff on which the monument should have rested was not found.
Instead, fluvial clays, sand banks and a conspicuous presence of caves,
tunnels and ancient quarries came to light. Caves and tunnels had been
foreseen, as it was known that in ancient times the area had been
excavated by the Romans, but not in similar and massive density.
Giuseppe Sacconi was forced to modify the project and to provide for a
reinforcement of the tunnels with the construction of structures that
rested on their vaults. Some quarries were then used during the Second
World War as an air-raid shelter.
With the continuation of the
excavation work, a section of the Servian walls was also unearthed, the
first city wall dating back to the sixth century BC, or at the time of
the kings of Rome, as well as the remains of a mammoth: both findings
were incorporated into the walls of the Vittoriano being built without
destroying them and leaving the possibility of inspecting them, except
for some parts of the fossil animal (transferred to the University of
Rome). Many other Roman finds were then found, scattered over the entire
area of the yard, including remains of buildings, statues, capitals,
objects of common use, etc.
Consequence of the discovery of the
Servian walls was a substantial modification of the project: two other
foundation pillars were added to the portico, so as to leave the
archaeological finds uncovered during the excavation work free and open
for inspection. For this reason the portico was more curved and its
dimensions were changed, which went from 90 to 114 meters in length,
with the number of columns, including those of the propylaea, which
increased from sixteen to twenty. Furthermore, the columns were made
more slender. In this way the Vittoriano went from being one of the many
monuments on the Capitoline Hill without standing out in a particular
way (as foreseen by the original project) to a showy and imposing
building that embraced the northern slope of the hill in a more
enveloping way.
Another change in the course of construction came
from Sacconi who, in February 1888, proposed adding the interior spaces
to the Vittoriano. The idea came to him after the discovery of the
tunnels and caves in the subsoil: some of them were then used to create
part of the interior of the Vittoriano, namely rooms, crypts, galleries
and corridors. These interiors would then house the Central Museum of
the Risorgimento, the Shrine of the Flags and the crypt of the Unknown
Soldier.
Due to these changes, the cost of the work went from the
9 million lire initially budgeted to the final 26.5 million. Finally,
70,000 cubic meters of land had to be excavated to build the
foundations.
To erect the Vittoriano it was necessary, between the
last months of 1884 and 1899, to carry out numerous expropriations and
extensive demolitions of the buildings that were located in the site
area. The place chosen was in the heart of the historic center of Rome
and was therefore occupied by ancient buildings arranged according to
urban planning dating back to the Middle Ages. In particular, the area
was occupied by the Convent of Aracoeli, a monastic complex of medieval
origin and managed by the order of the Friars Minor together with the
adjoining library, also including the sixteenth-century so-called Torre
di Paolo III overlooking Via del Corso.
The killing was carried
out thanks to a precise program established by Agostino Depretis, Prime
Minister. The demolition works, and consequently those of construction
of the Vittoriano, proceeded swiftly thanks to special urban planning
tools made available by the government. All the demolitions passed to
the scrutiny of the royal commission which, among the buildings and the
archaeological remains, decided which ones to preserve and which not.
It was also necessary to face the need to make the Vittoriano look
out towards an adequately large space. Piazza Venezia at the time was in
fact smaller in size. Bounded to the west by the palace of the same
name, its eastern side was disorderedly marked by ancient buildings,
including some valuable ones, such as Palazzo Bolognetti-Torlonia. From
1900 to 1906, works were carried out, based on the ideas of Giuseppe
Sacconi, to expand the square and make it symmetrical in shape, adapting
it to the great bulk of the monument and its symbolic meaning: the
celebration of the new free and united Italy.
In this way, some
historic streets of Rome and their neighborhoods disappeared, such as
via Della Pedacchia, via Di Testa Spaccata, via Della Ripresa Dei
Barberi, via Macel De 'Corvi and the adjoining square where the artist
Michelangelo resided. Other streets, on the contrary, were upset with
the demolition of all the buildings that stood on the sides, such as via
Giulio Romano, via San Marco and via Marforio. Part of the demolitions
were carried out to allow the monument to be seen from via del Corso and
via Nazionale. In total, the area that was razed to the ground was equal
to 19,200 square meters.
Various personalities spoke out against
the demolitions, including the mayor of Rome Leopoldo Torlonia and the
archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani. In the parliamentary seat it was
Ruggiero Bonghi, on 10 May 1883, who vehemently attacked the
demolitions. To these criticisms were added those of Ferdinand
Gregorovius, a German historian famous for his studies on medieval Rome,
and of Andrea Busiri Vici, president of the National Academy of San
Luca. On the other hand, there were also authoritative opinions, such as
that of the art historian Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle and the
architect Camillo Boito, who were instead in favor of demolitions,
albeit with the necessary distinctions.
Already in the early
twentieth century Primo Levi explained the choice to raise the
Vittoriano on the Capitoline Hill, which he metaphorically defined the
center of the "Third Rome", after ancient Rome and the Rome of the
popes, recalling a future third epoch in the history of 'Italy (a
historical succession seen as natural, dictated by the caesura of the
fall of the Western Roman Empire), during which the city could once
again become a reference point for the world. In this context it was
deemed necessary to equip it with infrastructures and buildings, even
symbolic ones such as the Vittoriano, which would underline its role as
capital of the newborn Kingdom of Italy.
The general objective
was also to make Rome a modern European capital that would rival Berlin,
Vienna, London and Paris, overcoming the centuries-old papal urbanism.
In this context, the Victorian would have been the equivalent of the
Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, the Admiralty Arch in London and the Opéra
Garnier in Paris: in fact, these buildings all share a monumental and
classical aspect that metaphorically communicates pride and the power of
the nation that built them.
The construction of the equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II, the first work carried out and architectural fulcrum of the entire monument, was entrusted by the royal commission, after another competition held on 9 February 1884, to Enrico Chiaradia already in April 1889, on the same day as it was closed. of the competition for the construction of the Vittoriano.
The statue, which was completed by Emilio Gallori,
since its creator had died in 1901, was cast with bronze from some
cannons of the Royal Army and then mounted on the marble base where the
allegorical personifications of the fourteen cities were carved "nobles"
of Italy, between 1907 and 1910. The centers depicted are the capitals
of the pre-unification noble states, whose birth is attributable to a
period prior to the Savoy monarchy: for this reason they were considered
the "noble mothers" of Risorgimento Italy.
On the occasion of the
visit of King Vittorio Emanuele III of Savoy, the authorities decided to
offer refreshments to a small group of guests among those who had
participated in the project. The event was set up inside the belly of
the bronze horse, which was able to accommodate more than twenty people,
as evidenced by the vintage photographs, copies of which are exhibited
on the rear terrace of the Vittoriano.
The continuation of the
works and the variations to the original project
During the
construction of the monument, Giuseppe Sacconi made the decision to
insert an altar dedicated to his homeland inside the Vittoriano. The
suggestion seems to have come from Giovanni Bovio, a philosopher and
republican deputy, who would have advised him to erect an Altar of the
Fatherland on the model of those built in the period of the French
Revolution.
The place and the dominant subject of the altar were
chosen immediately: a large statue of the goddess Rome which would be
placed on the first terrace after the entrance to the monument, just
below the equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II. So the Altare della
Patria, at least initially and before the burial of the body of the
Unknown Soldier, was thought of as a chapel of the divinity that
personifies Rome, to celebrate the greatness and majesty of the
legitimate capital of Italy. This reference to classicism was not an
exception: in the Vittoriano there are numerous artistic works that
recall the Roman civilization. With the construction of the Altare della
Patria, the Vittoriano assumed a new role: as well as a memorial
dedicated to the person of King Vittorio Emanuele II and a modern forum
of Italy, it was also a secular temple of the nation.
In 1890,
due to the unforeseen events that occurred during construction, Giuseppe
Sacconi had drawn up a second project of the Vittoriano, with some
variations: the addition of numerous windows to illuminate the
unforeseen basement rooms, the construction of two side stairways to be
able to access and the consequent elimination of the two fountains on
the sides of the central staircase. The variant was presented on the
occasion of the visit to the construction site of King Umberto I of
Savoy. Furthermore, Sacconi had to repeatedly oppose the various
proposals to place within the building also works of art that
represented specific characters and historical facts. In fact, he
believed that only through an allegorical art, devoid of any reference
to contemporaneity, could the monument be given a universal value, which
was not affected by the passage of time. Around 1900, after an
interruption of the works which lasted from 1896 to 1898 due to lack of
funds, Sacconi expressed his desire to bring the project back to its
original form, returning to the only entrance staircase, central and
flanked by the two " fountains of the seas ".
In the meantime,
during February 1900, the management of the construction site was
transferred from the "Royal Commission for the Monument to Vittorio
Emanuele II" to the Ministry of Public Works.
Giuseppe Sacconi
died in 1905, after twenty years almost completely dedicated to the
construction of the Vittoriano. His three close collaborators (Pompeo
Passerini, Adolfo Cozza and Giulio Crimini) took over temporarily the
reins of the construction site, who in 1906 developed the third project
for the monument. The works continued and were completed under the
direction of Gaetano Koch, Manfredo Manfredi and Pio Piacentini.
Manfredi, in particular, had been Sacconi's fellow student, and between
the two there was mutual affection and esteem. Theirs was a solid,
disinterested and loyally competitive friendship, having participated in
the same competitions, including that of the Vittoriano. The three
architects prepared the fourth general project, in which they accepted
Sacconi's desire to return to the original design of the monument. On
the occasion of the International Exhibition in Milan, a plaster model
of his (later lost in a fire) was shown to the public. With this fourth
and last project, the Vittoriano had its final form, which is the one
corresponding to the ideas always supported by Sacconi: a monument
characterized by exclusively allegorical works of art, with the
exception of the equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II.
In 1906, by means of a royal decree dated 17 May, the
"National Committee for the history of the Risorgimento" was
established, forerunner of the modern and homonymous institute. In the
same decree the seat of this committee was decided: the Victorian
building. At the same time it was decreed that the monument, inside,
would also house the "Cultural Center of Studies and Research on the
Risorgimento", as well as a museum and a library on the subject. Thus
the foundations were laid for the current Central Museum of the
Risorgimento.
Between 1906 and 1911, the year of the inauguration
of the Vittoriano, the latest changes were made to Sacconi's project,
including the lowering of the balustrades of the terraces and the
modification of some stairways, made more rectilinear in order to
further streamline the structure and give the impression that it was the
natural architectural continuation of Piazza Venezia.
The monumental complex was inaugurated in front of an
immense crowd on June 4, 1911, on the occasion of the events connected
to the national exhibition during the celebrations of the 50th
anniversary of the Unification of Italy, by King Vittorio Emanuele III.
The ceremony was also attended by Queen Elena, Queen Mother
Margherita of Savoy and the remaining part of the royal family,
including Maria Pia of Savoy, daughter of Vittorio Emanuele II and Queen
Mother of Portugal, recently deposed by the revolution that had
established the republic in 1910. Also present were the Prime Minister
Giovanni Giolitti, the six thousand mayors of Italy, the veterans of the
Risorgimento wars and three thousand students of the Roman schools.
Among the veterans of the wars (both those framed in the Royal Army
and the Garibaldians) there were some relevant personalities, such as
the last survivor of the Constituent Assembly which proclaimed the Roman
Republic of 1849. The three Garibaldians were also present and parade a
tricolor flag during the Trentino campaign, military operation of the
third Italian war of independence led in 1866 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, and
the battle of Dijon - fought between 1870 and 1871 during the
Franco-Prussian war. This second banner accompanied the Italian
volunteers who decided to fight the Prussians and, due to machine gun
shots, was very damaged: only the green band remained intact, the one
close to the auction, as opposed to the wholly frayed white one.
The atmosphere experienced during the inauguration ceremony of the
Vittoriano was characterized by an intense united and national spirit.
Despite this conciliatory atmosphere, there were voices out of the
chorus. The socialists (at that time led by the maximalist wing, which
was the most intransigent and radical) were opposed to the solemn event
because of their internationalist ideology, and the republicans, who
were critical of this ceremony given the unquestionable monarchical
connotations of the monument.
After the First World War, the Altare della Patria was
chosen to house the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, an Italian soldier who
died during the First World War whose identity remains unknown due to
the serious injuries that made his body unrecognizable. Precisely for
this reason it represents all the Italian soldiers who died during the
wars. The impossibility of identifying the soldier makes him a very
strong symbol, because only in this way is a metaphorical transition
between ever broader concepts possible: from the figure of the single
soldier to that of all the soldiers of the army and finally to that of
the whole nation.
The body was buried with a solemn ceremony on
November 4, 1921 on the occasion of the Day of National Unity and the
Armed Forces and since then his tomb has always been guarded by a guard
of honor and two eternal flames. The ceremony was the most important and
participatory patriotic manifestation of united Italy, since one million
people took part. This celebration also represented the recovery, by the
Italians, of that patriotic spirit that had been watered down by the
sufferings suffered during the bloody conflict. The Altare della Patria,
initially thought of as an altar of the goddess Rome, then also became
the chapel of the Unknown Soldier.
The Socialists and Communists
also participated. They, as already mentioned, were linked to an
internationalistic ideology by definition and, therefore, were
officially averse to this celebration with its showy patriotic
connotations. Furthermore, the socialist political forces, during the
parliamentary debate that had led Italy to participate in the First
World War, were partly opposed to a direct intervention by the country
in this conflict. Nonetheless, the socialists still honored the Unknown
Soldier, calling him "proletarian torn apart by other proletarians".
The Vittoriano was thus consecrated to its definitive symbolic value becoming - thanks to the recall of the figure of Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy and the presence of the Altare della Patria - a secular temple metaphorically dedicated to free and united and celebrating Italy - by virtue of the entombment of the Unknown Soldier - the sacrifice for the homeland and national ideals.
In 1925, on the occasion of the Birth of Rome (21
April), the missing part of the Altare della Patria was inaugurated,
that is the sculptures created by Angelo Zanelli that flank the statue
of the goddess Rome. With the construction of the quadriga dell'Unità
and the quadriga della Libertà, which were placed on their respective
propylaea between 1924 and 1927, the external spaces of the Vittoriano
could be said to be completed. Meanwhile, on February 19, 1921, the
"Royal Commission for the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II" was
dissolved.
In 1928 it was decided to refurbish the area adjacent
to the Vittoriano by opening Via del Teatro di Marcello. This involved
the dismantling of the seventeenth-century Church of Santa Rita da
Cascia in Campitelli, which stood on the slopes of the staircase of the
Ara Coeli basilica and which was rebuilt ten years later near the
theater of Marcellus. The excavation works brought to light the Ara
Coeli insula, dating back to the 2nd century AD. and still visible today
on the left side of the Vittoriano. The arrangement of the area around
the monument was completed between 1931 and 1933 by the architect
Raffaele De Vico, who designed the two tree-lined exedras arranged in
travertine steps.
The crypt of the Unknown Soldier was instead
inaugurated during the demonstration of May 24, 1935, which was
dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of Italy's entry into the war in
the First World War. This room is located under the equestrian statue of
Vittorio Emanuele II, at the Altare della Patria. The internal side of
the chapel of the Unknown Soldier faces the crypt, while the external
one is an integral part of the Altar.
The work to complete the
Vittoriano took place at the end in 1935 and involved the construction
of the Central Museum of the Risorgimento, inaugurated and open to the
public only in 1970. On the occasion, the creation of a Shrine of the
Flags was also planned, designed to host a exhibition of historical
Italian military flags. Its precursors were the transfer inside the
Vittoriano of the war flags of the dissolved regiments that were
previously in Castel Sant'Angelo: even the Shrine of the Flags became
open only later, on November 4, 1968, on the occasion of the 'National
Unity and the Armed Forces.
The completion of the interior
spaces, including the crypt of the Unknown Soldier (with mosaics by
Giulio Bargellini), is to be attributed to Armando Brasini, former
artistic director of the Vittoriano. The same architect also took care
of the brick facade with buttresses on Via di San Pietro in Carcere. In
this context, in 1939, the management of the Vittoriano passed from the
Ministry of Public Works to that of Public Education.
The conclusion of the First World War and the results
of the Treaty of Versailles left the Italian government embittered
which, according to the Pact of London signed in April 1915 with the
Triple Entente, once hostilities ended, it could have annexed northern
Dalmatia among other territories. On the contrary, with the exception of
the city of Zadar, the area was incorporated by the Kingdom of the
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes born from the dissolution of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even the promises of mandates of the League of
Nations (substantially some former German colonies and part of the
non-Turkish lands that had belonged to the Ottoman Empire) remained
unfulfilled and Italy was awarded only small territorial compensations
in favor of the colonies it already owned. Consequently, the myth of the
"mutilated victory" was born, which was quickly adopted by fascism, an
excellent political question instrumental to the recall of the
sufferings and sacrifices suffered by the Italian people during the war.
Then the Vittoriano, for the second time, changed its metaphorical
meaning: while maintaining the exteriority of a secular temple, it
became one of the symbols of Italy's military redemption, patriotism and
the war capacity of the country, placing in the background the
celebration of Vittorio Emanuele II and the nature of a modern forum.
The prelude to the politicization of the monument took place already
in 1920, before the burial of the Unknown Soldier (1921) and the march
on Rome (1922), due to anti-socialist and anti-Bolshevik demonstrations
organized by the nationalist and patriotic parties which took place at
the Vittoriano before the administrative elections of October 1920 and
the political elections of May 1921. Following the march on Rome and the
seizure of power by Mussolini, the Vittoriano became one of the stages
for the regime's demonstrations. Furthermore, part of the public
gathered on its stairways and watched the speeches uttered by Mussolini
from the balcony of Palazzo Venezia, jutting out over the square of the
same name.
To fix the Vittoriano in the collective imagination of
Italians, from the end of the twenties fascism started an impressive
propaganda work, also making use of the nascent Italian film industry:
the building became a constant presence in the films of the regime,
whose background was often the panorama of Rome. From 1928 to 1943 the
Vittoriano appeared in 249 films distributed in Italian cinemas; 168 of
these apparitions (67.5%) were linked to a tribute to the Unknown
Soldier, 81 (the remaining 32.5%) were the scene of a fascist
demonstration organized within its walls.
In this context, the
architect and engineer Gustavo Giovannoni proposed the construction,
near Piazza di Spagna, of a monument comparable to the Vittoriano to
celebrate Fascist Italy, a project which he never followed. This was not
the only point of contact between liberal and fascist Italy: both had
the objective of forging a new Italy and both had imperialist
tendencies. Instead, what differentiated them was the way in which they
wanted to pursue this goal: liberal Italy leaving free will to the
citizens, the fascist regime with coercion and violence.
During
the twenty years, the Vittoriano often played the choreographic role,
solemn and spectacular, in the military parades that from via
dell'Impero (the modern via dei Fori Imperiali) arrived under the
balcony of Palazzo Venezia. The monument retained a certain role in the
fascist nationalist frame also because it welcomed the Unknown Soldier,
to whom the regime often paid homage. The altar of the fallen fascists,
which was located on the Capitoline Hill, also had a similar role.
With the fall of fascism (25 July 1943) and the end of
the Second World War in Europe (8 May 1945) a democratic change could
take place in Italy and, as a consequence of the referendum of 2 June
1946, the Italian Republic was born. The Vittoriano was emptied of the
military contents associated with it by fascism and returned to its
previous function as a secular temple.
From that moment on, the
Altare della Patria has once again become the scene of symbolic events
representing the entire Italian people. The most important are held
annually on the occasion of the Anniversary of the liberation of Italy
(25 April), the Day of the Italian Republic (2 June) and the Day of
National Unity and the Armed Forces (4 November), during which the
President of the Italian Republic and the highest offices of the State
pay homage to the chapel of the Unknown Soldier with the deposition of a
laurel wreath.
From the sixties of the twentieth century,
however, the Vittoriano met with disinterest, if not when in contempt.
In fact, it was no longer considered one of the symbols of national
identity and indeed represented, with its neoclassical bulk, a
cumbersome testimony of the Italian past, fascism, colonialism, the
tragedies of the first half of the twentieth century. Thanks to the
increasingly evident state of abandonment, the celebrations that took
place there were less and less attended, including those that interested
the Unknown Soldier. From many quarters it even came to propose to
abolish them or to transfer them elsewhere, because the memory of the
fascist oceanic gatherings was still alive. Therefore the Victorian
gradually slipped into a damnatio memoriae which caused his exclusion
from the Italian collective imagination.
To this was added the
painful memory of the demolitions and demolitions of entire historical
blocks of Rome, which continued for decades under the liberal
governments or during the dictatorship. There was also a change on the
part of the institutions: from involving and exciting events, they moved
on to ritual and aseptic commemorations, carried out for ordinary
necessity and with little public transport. Piazza Venezia too, as a
consequence of the urban expansion of Rome after the war and the
exponential increase in vehicular traffic, turned into a simple nerve
center of the city road system.
On December 12, 1969, the Vittoriano was the site of
an attack: around 5:30 pm two bombs exploded, ten minutes apart,
coinciding with the massacre of Piazza Fontana in Milan. However, there
were no victims at the monument. They had been placed laterally, in
correspondence with each propylaeus, and one managed to unhinge the door
of the Central Museum of the Risorgimento (thrown away for seven meters)
and to break the windows of the basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. The
second detonation made the base of a flagpole unsafe. Due to the damage
caused by the attack, the Vittoriano was closed to the public and
remained so for thirty years: on the other hand, the grandiloquent
building was now ignored and its usefulness was no longer felt or
recognized.
In the wake of the political climate of the seventies
and due to the closure to the public, the Vittoriano experienced a long
period of oblivion on the part of both institutions and citizens. In
1975 it passed in charge from the Ministry of Education to the newly
formed Ministry for Cultural Heritage, a department to which it still
belongs. In 1981, by decree dated May 20, the ministry declared the
historical and artistic importance of the Vittoriano, referring to the
previous law n. 1089 of 1 June 1939.
At the end of the eighties
an opinion movement arose, led by Ludovico Quaroni, who wanted the
"ruderization", that is the complete abandonment to itself which would
be followed by a phase of partial dismantling, with the removal of the
most important (which would have been preserved in some museum) and the
conversion of the monument to a simple elevated walk: this would also
have required the demolition of the most impressive and symbolic
sections, as part of the top portico and propylaea. In this way the
Vittoriano would no longer stand out in the eyes of visitors and would
have a monumentality comparable to that of the surrounding buildings.
It was the President of the Italian Republic Carlo
Azeglio Ciampi, at the beginning of the 21st century, who began a work
of rediscovery and enhancement of the Italian patriotic symbols,
including the Victorian. Thanks to Ciampi's initiative, it has regained
the symbolic importance it once had. Ciampi's work was also taken up and
continued by his successor, Giorgio Napolitano, with particular emphasis
during the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of
Italy.
Specifically, the monument was made accessible again to
the public under pressure from Carlo Azeglio Ciampi on 24 September
2000, after a careful restoration and on the occasion of the opening
ceremony of the 2000-2001 school year, the most important part of which
took place precisely at the Vittoriano. in the presence of the President
of the Italian Republic. In 2003 President Ciampi expressed himself
thus, speaking to schools: ... this monument is experiencing a second
youth. We rediscover it as a symbol of the legacy of values that the
generations of the Risorgimento have entrusted to us. The foundations of
these values are engraved here in marble: the unity of the homeland,
the freedom of citizens.
Since 4 November 2000 the most
symbolically important ceremonies (Anniversary of the liberation of
Italy on 25 April, Italian Republic Day on 2 June, National Unity and
Armed Forces Day on 4 November) take place permanently at the monument.
The Vittoriano has also become an important museum center for
collections relating to the Italian national identity: the exhibition
spaces present (the Central Museum of the Risorgimento and the Sacrario
delle Bandiere) have been relaunched with a work of strengthening and
updating that has made them increasingly frequented.
This
renaissance of the Vittoriano went hand in hand with the constant and
growing work of enhancing the other Italian national symbols. Currently
the Vittoriano remains the property of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage
which, since 1 February 2005, has managed it through the Regional
Directorate for Cultural and Landscape Heritage of Lazio, then the
Regional Directorate for Museums of Lazio. In 2020 the monument was
joined to the nearby National Museum of Palazzo Venezia within a single
administration, creating a new body with special autonomy.
The
rediscovery of the symbolic value of the Vittoriano is now accompanied
by a more serene judgment of its artistic value which, as for any
monument, must be contextualized in its time of construction: the
monument is now seen by the most up-to-date art critic as an excellent
example of Italian art of the late nineteenth century and an important
step in the search for the "national style" that was to characterize the
newly established Kingdom of Italy. The Vittoriano plays this role both
in itself and for the numerous works of art it houses, including
Neoclassicism, Eclecticism and Liberty.
Generality
The Vittoriano is located on the
Campidoglio hill, in the symbolic center of ancient Rome, and is
connected to the modern one thanks to the streets that radiate off from
Piazza Venezia. The monumental complex of the Vittoriano is 70 meters
high (81 meters including the crowning quadrigae of the two propylaea),
135 meters wide, 130 meters deep, occupies an area of 17 550 square
meters and has, thanks to the conspicuous development of the interior
spaces, a floor area of 717,000 square meters.
The entrance
staircase is 41 meters wide and 34 meters long, the terrace where the
Altare della Patria is located is 66 meters wide. The maximum depth of
the Vittoriano underground reaches 17 meters below street level. The
colonnade is made up of columns 15 meters high and the length of the
portico is 72 meters. Since June 2007 it has been possible to go up to
the terrace of the chariots using an elevator: this terrace, which is
the highest in the monument, can also be reached via 196 steps that
start from the top of the portico.
The architecturally
predominant elements of the Vittoriano are the external stairways, made
up of 243 steps as a whole, and the portico located on the top of the
monument. The latter, inserted between two lateral propylaea, is called
sommoportico due to its elevated position (from "supreme", ie "high",
"large", "highest part"). The portico is made up of a large Corinthian
colonnade, an order that also characterizes the two propylaea.
The allegories of the monument represent, according to the canons of the
Neoclassical style, mostly the virtues and sentiments that animated the
struggles for national unity during the Risorgimento, i.e. in the period
from the uprisings of 1820-1821 to the capture of Rome (1870) , or,
according to others, to victory in the First World War. In the
Vittoriano there is a conspicuous presence of statues depicting winged
Victories, both in marble and bronze, which symbolize the good omen
enjoyed in the political amalgamation of the peninsula.
As
already mentioned, there are also numerous artistic works that recall
the history of ancient Rome [76]: since its inauguration the Vittoriano
complex also celebrates the greatness and majesty of Rome, which is
elected to the role of legitimate capital of Italy. Then there are
several plant symbols present, including the palm tree, which recalls
the "victory", the oak (the "strength"), the laurel (the "victorious
peace"), the myrtle (the "sacrifice") and the olive tree (the
"concord"). All the works of art created for the Vittoriano have engaged
the major artists then active in Italy.
In the Vittoriano
allegorical meanings are widespread which should have been clear and
unambiguous, according to the intentions of their creators. According to
some authors, this goal was not achieved, however, given that the works,
in their opinion, have often undergone ambiguous interpretations. Those
who support this intrinsic ambivalence of the Vittoriano find the causes
in the Risorgimento which, according to the revisionist vision, was
characterized by a dual nature: on the one hand there would have been
the patriots, on the other the silent majority, formed mainly by
peasants and by the middle class, which would have remained indifferent
to the Italian unification process. The patriots themselves had
different views on the future system of Italian government: from the
beginning they were in fact divided into centralists and federalists,
into monarchists and republicans. In any case, all recognized themselves
in the same tricolor flag and shared the same ideals of unity and
independence.
To this must be added the historical stratification
and the profound difference in public employment of the Vittoriano, in
particular the political contrast between liberal and fascist Italy in
spreading their respective political messages. If liberal Italy saw in
the Vittoriano a secular temple where to metaphorically celebrate the
unity and freedom of the homeland, fascism considered the monument as a
stage where to flaunt the aggressive military power of the country while
since the birth of the Italian Republic it is considered as the "forum
of the Republic".
From a stylistic point of view, the
architecture and works of art that embellish the Vittoriano were
conceived with the aim of creating a "national style", a model to be
used in other areas as well. This was, in fact, the need expressed by
art critics in those first decades of unity, in which the nation was
fine-tuning its own identity, also from an artistic point of view. This
"national style", according to Camillo Boito, who was its theorist,
could not be new in plan, but rather, to have a completely national
character, it should have been linked to the Italian architecture of the
past. The study of the classics, however, had to be considered a
starting point and not an arrival. This was the responsibility felt by
Sacconi in his project.
In this context, for the realization of
the Vittoriano, Giuseppe Sacconi took inspiration from neoclassical
architecture, the heir of classical Greek and Roman architecture, on
which Italic elements were grafted according to the spirit of
Eclecticism. Sacconi also kept in mind the architectural style in vogue
during the Second French Empire of Napoleon III (1852-1870), which was
very common in the new buildings built in Paris at that time, leading to
the complete transformation of the French capital. This style was in
fact the only one that he appreciated among those of his time, even if
he did not share its excessive decorativism and sumptuousness. According
to some authors, Sacconi was also inspired by the forms used, even in
the colonial context, by various imperialist nations of the time such as
the United Kingdom, France, the German Empire and Belgium.
The
fountains of the two seas
Leaning against the external base of the
Vittoriano, on the sides of the entrance gate to Piazza Venezia, there
are the "fountains of the two seas" which are dedicated to the Adriatic
and Tyrrhenian seas. Both are inserted in a flower bed and have, from
the outset, a hydraulic system that recycles the water avoiding waste.
At one time there was also an active 500,000-liter water tank, which was
later abandoned, which is located in the basement of the monument. The
two fountains therefore represent the two major Italian seas and,
therefore, from this point of view the Vittoriano is assimilated to the
Italian peninsula. In this way, the entire country is represented, even
geographically. To the right of the fountain of the Adriatic you can see
the remains of the Sepulcher of Gaius Publicio Bibulus, a monument of
the Republican era, an important point of reference for ancient Roman
toponymy.
The external stairways and terraces
The external
stairways of the Vittoriano adapt to the ascending sides of the northern
slope of the Capitoline Hill and lead, starting from the entrance of
Piazza Venezia, to the terrace of the Altare della Patria, then to the
terrace of the redeemed cities (the one immediately below the colonnade
of the portico) and finally to the terraces of the two propylaea, which
flank the portico and constitute the two entrances.
The
Vittoriano, as already mentioned, was conceived as a large forum open to
citizens, a sort of raised square in the heart of the capital organized
as an agora on three levels where there are ample spaces reserved for
the transit and parking of visitors, of which the stairways and terraces
constitute the fundamental element.
The monument, as a whole,
appears as a sort of marble covering of the northern slope of the
Capitoline Hill: it was therefore conceived as a place where it is
possible to take an uninterrupted patriotic walk among the works
present, which almost all have allegorical meanings linked to the
history of Italy. In fact, the path does not have an architectural
purpose, since there are two entrances to the highest part, one for each
propylaum.
At the entrance there is an imposing staircase that
leads to the terrace of the Altare della Patria and of the Unknown
Soldier and which represents the first raised platform of the
Vittoriano, as well as its symbolic center. The path along the staircase
continues beyond the tomb of the Unknown Soldier to symbolically
represent a continuous and uninterrupted procession of Italians that
continues its walk up to the highest point of the building: the portico
and the propylaea.
The artistic gate leading to the Vittoriano,
which is the work of Manfredo Manfredi, has the particularity of being
"retractable", that is, it can slide vertically underground thanks to
rails. The system that allows the lowering of the grating, originally
hydraulic, was considered at the time of its construction among the most
technologically advanced in the world. The entrance gate has a length of
40 meters and a weight of 10.5 tons.
On both sides of the entrance staircase there are a
series of sculptures that accompany the visitor towards the Altare della
Patria. The first sculptures that meet are two sculptural groups in
gilded bronze, with subjects inspired by the thought of Giuseppe
Mazzini, Il Pensiero and L'Azione (respectively, to the left and right
of the staircase for those coming from Piazza Venezia), followed by two
sculptural groups (also in this case one on each side) depicting as many
winged Lions and finally, on the top of the staircase, before the start
of the Altare della Patria terrace, two winged Victories.
The
presence of these figures is not accidental, since they have a precise
meaning. Thought and Action were in fact fundamental in the process of
Italian unification, since they are necessary to change the course of
history and to transform a society. The overall shape of the two
sculptural groups recalls the intrinsic characteristics of the two
concepts: Action has a triangular and angular profile, while Thought has
a circular shape.
The two winged Lions represent the initiation
of patriots who decide to join the enterprise of Italian unification
motivated by ardor and strength, which also control their instinctive
side: otherwise the patriots would slide towards the darkening of their
abilities if instinct was left completely free. Winged Victories, in
addition to recalling the military and cultural successes of the Roman
era, allegorically symbolize the good omen for the achievement of
national unity.
At the end of the entrance staircase, immediately
after the statues of the winged Victories, there is the terrace of the
Altare della Patria, the first raised platform of the Vittoriano, which
is centrally dominated by the statue of the goddess Rome and the chapel
of the Unknown Soldier. On the terrace of the Altare della Patria there
are also sculptural groups in Botticino marble that symbolize the moral
values of the Italians, or rather the ideal principles that make the
nation solid. The four groups have a height of 6 meters and are located
to the right and left of the entrance to the terrace of the Altare della
Patria (two on each side), laterally to the statues of Il Pensiero and
de L'Azione and in correspondence with the fountains of the two seas,
along the parapets overlooking Piazza Venezia. This is no coincidence:
the concepts expressed by these four sculptural groups, La Forza, La
Concordia, Il Sacrificio e Il Right, are the tangible emanation of Il
Pensiero and De L'Azione.
On the sides of the Altare della Patria
the staircase resumes dividing into two symmetrical ramps parallel to
the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Both reach a pronaos where two large
doors open (one on each side, both positioned symmetrically and sideways
to the Unknown Soldier and each in correspondence with one of the two
propylaea) leading to the interior spaces of the Vittoriano. Above each
door there are two statues: on the left door Politics and Philosophy,
while on the right door there are two statues depicting The War and the
Revolution.
From the two shelves where the doors that give access
to the internal spaces open two further flights of stairs that converge,
exactly behind the Altare della Patria, towards the base of the
equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II: the latter is located on the
second large raised platform, in order of height, of the Vittoriano.
Behind it, the stairway resumes its ascent towards the top of the
portico reaching a small ledge, from which two stairways depart from the
side, each leading to the entrance of a propylaum. Before reaching the
entrances of the propylaea, each of the two stairways is interrupted by
creating a small intermediate shelf, which allows access to the terrace
of the redeemed cities, the third large and last raised platform of the
Vittoriano, which is located exactly behind the equestrian statue of
Vittorio Emanuele II and immediately under the colonnade of the portico.
The redeemed cities are those united to Italy
following the Treaty of Rapallo (1920) and the Treaty of Rome (1924),
peace agreements at the conclusion of the First World War: these
municipalities are Trieste, Trento, Gorizia, Pola, Fiume and Zara.
Following the Paris treaties of 1947, Pula, Rijeka and Zadar passed to
Yugoslavia and - after the latter's dissolution - to Croatia. After the
conflict, Gorizia was divided in two: one part remained with Italy while
the other, which was renamed "Nova Gorica", passed first to Yugoslavia
and then to Slovenia. Each redeemed city is represented by an altar set
against the back wall, which bears the corresponding municipal coat of
arms. The six altars were placed on the terrace between 1929 and 1930.
At the center of the row of the altars of the redeemed cities,
engraved on the stylobate, there is a monumental inscription carved on
the occasion of the solemn ceremony of the burial of the Unknown Soldier
(November 4, 1921) which shows the text of the Victory Bulletin, an
official document written after the armistice of Villa Giusti with which
General Armando Diaz, supreme commander of the Royal Army, announced, on
November 4, 1918, the surrender of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the
victory of Italy in the First World War.
At the base of the text
of the Bulletin of Victory there are two other altars similar to those
of the redeemed cities but which have, in place of the municipal coat of
arms of the municipalities, a helmet: these two altars bear the
inscription: "Et Facere Fortia" the one on the left and "Et Pati Fortia"
the one on the right. They echo the Latin phrase et facere et pati
fortia romanum est ("It is from Roman to do and suffer strong things"),
which derives from the words that Muzio Scevola said to Porsenna, as
reported by Tito Livio.
The Altare della Patria is the best known part of the
Vittoriano and is the one with which it is often identified. Located on
the top of the entrance staircase, it was designed by the Brescian
sculptor Angelo Zanelli, who won a competition specifically held in
1906. It is formed by the side of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier facing
outwards, while the other side is located in a crypt. In an aedicule,
exactly above the tomb, is the statue of the goddess Roma, and the two
marble reliefs located on the sides converge towards it.
The
sculptor Angelo Zanelli interrupted the nineteenth-century custom, which
wanted the representation of the goddess Rome with exclusively warlike
features: the artist decided instead to create the statue inspired by
the iconographic characteristics of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom,
as well as of war. The large statue of the deity emerges from a golden
background. The presence in the Vittoriano of the goddess Rome wants to
underline the thought of the patriots of the Risorgimento: the Eternal
City is the only and indispensable capital of Italy, and all of Italian
history converges towards this idea.
The Unknown Soldier was
transferred to the Altare della Patria on November 4, 1921. The epigraph
under the statue bears the Latin inscription "Ignoto Militi" and the
years of beginning and end of Italian participation in the First World
War, or "MCMXV" ( 1915) and "MCMXVIII" (1918).
His tomb is a
chapel that symbolically represents all the fallen and missing in the
war. The side of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier facing the Altare della
Patria is always guarded by a guard of honor and by two flames that burn
perpetually in the braziers. The soldiers of the various weapons of the
Italian armed forces provide the guard, which initially should have
alternated every ten years; currently they alternate according to a
calendar established from year to year.
The flames that burn
perpetually are an ancient symbol, which has its origins in classical
antiquity and especially in the cult of the dead: they represent the
memory that remains alive despite the passage of time. In this case,
they therefore symbolize the undying memory in the Italians of the
sacrifice of the Unknown Soldier and of his love for his country. This
is also valid, of course, for Italians far from their country and it is
no coincidence that the construction of the two perennial braziers is
due to donations made by Italian emigrants, as recalled by the plaque
placed at their base, the text of which reads "The Italians all abroad
to the Motherland ".
The bas-relief on the left of the Altar of
the Fatherland represents the Triumph of Labor and the one on the right
symbolizes the Triumph of love of country: both scenographically
converge towards the statue of the goddess Rome. The general conception
of the bas-reliefs recalls one the Bucolics and the other the Georgics
of Virgil, completing the triptych of the Altar of the Fatherland with
the statue of the Roman divinity.
The allegorical meaning of the bas-reliefs is linked
to the desire to represent the Italian soul with sculpture. In fact, the
reference to the Aeneid is present in the Georgics and in both works the
industriousness in the work of the Italians is evoked.
The Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier is annually the scene of official ceremonies
during the celebrations of the Anniversary of the liberation of Italy
(25 April), the Italian Republic Day (2 June) and the Day of National
Unity and the Armed Forces (4 November ), occasions on which the
President of the Italian Republic and the highest offices of the State
pay her solemn homage.
The equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele
II
After passing the Altare della Patria, continue to climb the
staircase and you will come across the equestrian statue of Vittorio
Emanuele II, a bronze work by Enrico Chiaradia and architectural center
of the Vittoriano. On the marble base of the statue the personifications
of the noble Italian cities are carved. The statue is made of bronze, 12
meters high and 10 meters long and weighs 50 tons. Including the marble
base, the entire sculptural group is 24.80 meters high.
The
equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II is the only non-symbolic
representation of the Victorian. The choice to represent him on
horseback is not accidental, since the equestrian statues have, since
ancient times, a precise symbolism. In classical antiquity the
equestrian statues were aimed at exalting the portrayed subject, whose
warlike virtues were emphasized. Furthermore, by riding and controlling
a steed, the character's ability to control primordial instincts was
communicated: in this way civic virtues were also recognized in the
subject.
Even the placement of the statue in the architectural
center of the Vittoriano, above the Altar of the Fatherland and in front
of the colonnade of the portico, is not fortuitous: in classical
antiquity the equestrian statues were often located in front of
colonnades, public squares, temples or along the triumphal ways; in
places, therefore, basic for their centrality. The presence of the base
on which the personifications of the noble cities are carved, finally,
is linked to the same archaic traditions.
The statues of the
noble cities
On the base of the equestrian statue of Vittorio
Emanuele II, as already mentioned, there are sculptural representations
of fourteen noble cities; that is the ancient capitals of Italian noble
states, historically converging towards the Kingdom of Italy and towards
the Savoy dynasty, as it espoused the cause of the Risorgimento. It is
therefore not a question of the most important cities in Italy, but of
those considered to be its "noble mothers".
The fourteen statues
of the noble cities are placed at the base of the equestrian statue of
Vittorio Emanuele II because metaphorically they are the foundations of
Italy and, in a broader sense, the unity of the homeland is based on the
union of its municipalities.
Unlike those dedicated to the
regions of Italy, the statues depicting the fourteen cities are all the
work of the same sculptor: Eugenio Maccagnani.
The portico and
the propylaea
General features
Continuing to climb the staircase
beyond the equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II, we arrive at the
architecturally most impressive element of the whole architectural
complex: the large, slightly curved portico located on the top of the
monument and therefore called the "sommoportico". At its ends there are
two propylaea, protruding from the central body, of which they
constitute the entrances.
The portico is 72 meters long and
consists of sixteen Corinthian columns 15 meters high, surmounted by
capitals embellished by the face of turreted Italy (located in the
center) and by acanthus leaves. On the upper frieze there are sixteen
statues, allegorical personifications of the Italian regions. Each
statue is located in correspondence with a column. For the columns of
the portico, Giuseppe Sacconi was inspired by those of the Temple of the
Dioscuri of the Roman Forum, located nearby.
Each propylaum
crowns a bronze sculptural group, depicting a winged Victory on a
quadriga. This recalls the celebration of the triumph of republican
Rome, when the victorious commanders ascended the Capitol in a chariot
drawn by four white horses. The Romans believed that the gods sent
Victories to earth, to bring gifts to the winner of a military
confrontation.
The two quadrigas, as the Latin inscriptions on
the pediments of the underlying propylaea expressly state, symbolize the
freedom of citizens ("Civium Libertati", right) and the unity of the
homeland ("Patriae Unitati", left), the two concepts hinge that inform
the entire monument. The implicit message is that Italy, having once
again returned to a single political structure and conquered
independence, is ready to spread a new Renaissance throughout the world,
supported by the moral virtues allegorically represented in the
Vittoriano.
The concepts of "citizens' freedom" and "unity of the
fatherland" can be referred to the contribution made by Vittorio
Emanuele II to the Risorgimento, at the beginning and at the end of his
reign. For the freedom of citizens, the Moncalieri proclamation was
fundamental, with which the King, who had risen to the throne a few
months ago, confirmed the liberal regime, despite the repressions that
followed the "spring of the peoples" in other European states. As for
the "unity of the fatherland", it can instead be remembered that
Vittorio Emanuele, a few years before his death, took responsibility for
the capture of Rome, a decisive step to unify the country. After Rome
became the capital, only Trentino-Alto Adige and Venezia Giulia were
missing for the completion of the unit, annexed only after the First
World War, also called the "fourth Italian war of independence".
The quadrigas, already foreseen in the original project, were built and
positioned in 1927. Within the pediments of the two propylaea there are
sculptural groups that have the same theme as the respective quadrigas
above.
The statues of the regions
The staircase leading to the
terrace of the redeemed cities is the best observation point for the
statues of the regions of Italy, which are located on the frieze of the
portico, each in correspondence with a column. The presence of statues
allegorically portraying the Italian regions is inspired by the
personifications of the Roman provinces. For the type of frieze, very
high and with statues alternating with clypei, Sacconi was inspired by
that of the portico of the nearby Forum of Trajan. The statues placed on
the cornice of the portico are sixteen, equal to the number of Italian
regions at the time of construction of the monument. Each statue is five
meters high and was entrusted to a different sculptor, almost always a
native of the region whose image he would have carved. The cornice is
also embellished with eagles and lion heads.
Since the Vittoriano
was built, the identification criteria of some Italian regions and the
names of some of them have changed, and consequently the names of the
statues do not always correspond to the current ones. As for the names,
in the period coeval with the project of the monument, Emilia-Romagna
was simply called Emilia and Basilicata was called Lucania. Furthermore,
Abruzzo and Molise are represented by a single statue, since until 1963
they constituted a single region (Abruzzi and Molise); also the
Triveneto is represented by a single statue, since Trentino-Alto Adige
and Venezia Giulia at the time still belonged to the Austro-Hungarian
Empire; Valle d'Aosta and Piedmont, likewise, are represented by a
single statue, since they formed a single administrative entity: the
Valle d'Aosta region was established only in 1948.
The interior
spaces
The internal spaces of the portico and the propylaea are
accessed via two triumphal entrance stairways located in correspondence
with each propylaea. The two entrance stairways are located on a small
ledge which can be reached via a short staircase which joins the terrace
of the redeemed cities. At the base of the entrance stairway of the
propylaea there are four statues of winged Victories on triumphal
columns: made in 1911, two are at the entrance to the right propylaum
and two at the entrance to the left one.
Each entrance leads to a
large quadrangular vestibule, facing the outside through a colonnade.
The vestibules lead to the internal spaces of the portico. These rooms
are decorated with mosaics, important works of floral Liberty and
pictorial symbolism, which cover the lunettes and the two domes of the
propylaea. Even the mosaics have as their subject the metaphorical
representation of the virtues and feelings, very often rendered as
allegorical personifications, which animated the Italians during the
Risorgimento. The interiors of the portico are decorated with allegories
of the sciences, while the doors that connect the propylaea and the
portico are embellished with representations of the arts.
The decoration of the ceiling of the propylaeum on the left was
entrusted to Giulio Bargellini. In these mosaics he adopted innovative
technical devices, such as the use of materials of various kinds and of
tesserae of different and inclined dimensions in order to create studied
luminous reflections. It should also be noted that the lines of the
mosaic representations continue towards those of the underlying columns.
The Bargellini mosaics along the highest part of the walls represent
figuratively La Fede, rendered as the consecration of the children to
the homeland officiated by the people (in the background a city
reminiscent of Jerusalem); The Force, or a warrior who accompanies a
young man to an encounter with a woman armed with a sword; The Work,
personified by a family of farmers who get together after a day in the
fields; La Sapienza, proposed as a teacher in the chair in front of his
students seated on the desks.
The decoration of the ceiling of
the right propylaeum was instead entrusted to Antonio Rizzi. Along the
highest part of the walls, Rizzi created: The Law (a work composed of
the allegories of Justice seated on the throne, of Wisdom, Wealth,
Prudence, Fortitude and Temperance, each with its classic attributes);
The Valor (represented with a young man who hardens his sword on the
wings of Liberty and who is surrounded by the founders of the Italic
lineage, including Aeneas and Ascanius); Peace (a female figure holding
a bundle of wheat and others bearing the fruits of the earth, while
white doves fly towards a source of water); The Union (pictured with a
young man who meets La Poesia).
The internal doors leading from
the two propylaea to the portico are adorned with allegorical sculptures
representing Architecture and Music, which are located in the left
vestibule and which are the work of Antonio Garella, and Painting and
Sculpture, which are located in the vestibule. on the right and which
were made by Lio Gangeri. The interior of the portico has a floor of
polychrome marble and a coffered ceiling: the latter, which was designed
by Gaetano Koch, is called the "ceiling of the sciences".
The
ceiling owes its name to the bronze sculptures by Giuseppe Tonnini
located inside the portico, collectively known as Allegories of
Sciences: they are all made up of female personifications, Geometry with
compass and square, Chemistry with retort and still, Physics with
lantern and barometer, Mineralogy with a quartz crystal, Mechanics with
toothed wheel, Medicine with cup and staff of Asclepius, Astronomy with
the globe of the zodiac and the sextant and Geography with protractor
and terrestrial globe. The vertical wall opposite the columns is
decorated on the top with mosaics with a golden background, after 1925.
Other sculptures present inside the portico are the Trophies of arms,
that is to say a vast set of shields, cuirasses, halberds, spears, flags
, arrows and quivers; a trophy shows the crown of Italy, the eagle with
the crusader shield and the collar of the Annunziata: the emblems of the
House of Savoy.
The internal crypt of the Unknown Soldier
The
crypt of the Unknown Soldier is a room located under the equestrian
statue of Vittorio Emanuele II. It is accessed from the Shrine of the
Flags. From it it is possible to see the side of the chapel of the
Unknown Soldier which faces the interior spaces of the Vittoriano; it is
therefore located in correspondence with the Altare della Patria, from
which instead you can see the side of the tomb facing the outside of the
building.
The epigraph on the inside of the sepulchral stone
bears the inscription "Ignoto Militi" and the start and end dates of the
Italian participation in the First World War, or "Xxiv Maggio Mcmxv" (24
May 1915) and "Iv November Mcmxviii" (November 4, 1918). As already
mentioned, the external side of the sepulchral stone instead shows only
the years of Italian participation in the war.
On November 1,
1921, the Gold Medal for Military Valor was awarded to the Unknown
Soldier, the highest Italian military decoration, with a motivation that
was also reported on the inner side of the chapel, in the crypt of the
same name:
"Worthy son of a brave lineage and a millenary
civilization, he resisted inflexible in the most disputed trenches,
lavished his courage in the most bloody battles and fell fighting
without a doubt reward to hope that the victory and the greatness of the
Fatherland"
On the door of the simulacrum there is instead the following epitaph,
written by Vittorio Emanuele III himself:
"The name is unknown - his
spirit strikes - wherever Italy is - with a voice of tears and pride -
countless mothers say: - he is my son"
The Soldier was also
awarded foreign honors. The Medal of Honor, the highest military
decoration awarded by the Federal Government of the United States of
America, had already been awarded on 12 October 1921. This was followed
by the Cross of Liberty for the military command of I Class, the highest
conferable by the government of Estonia, and the Croix de guerre, a
French military honor.
The crypt of the Unknown Soldier is the
work of the architect Armando Brasini. It is a room in the shape of a
Greek cross with a domed vault which is accessed via two flights of
stairs. A short tunnel starts from the crypt and reaches the niche of
the chapel of the Unknown Soldier. The niche is inserted in an
arcosolium inspired by the style of early Christian buildings,
especially the catacombs. The ceiling of the crypt instead recalls Roman
architecture, alternating cross vaults and barrel vaults. The room,
built in bricks, is characterized by the presence of round arches and
niches. There is also a small altar for religious functions.
The
walls of the crypt are decorated with a Byzantine-style mosaic, the work
of Giulio Bargellini, of a religious nature. The crucifixion of Jesus is
located above the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, on the walls the patron
saints of the Italian armed forces stand out: St. Martin patron of the
infantry, St. George for the cavalry, St. Sebastian for the local police
and St. Barbara for the Navy Military, bomb squads and engineers.
Finally, in the dome there is the Madonna of Loreto, patroness of the
Air Force.
Parts of the crypt and sepulcher were made with stone
materials from the mountains that were the scene of the battles of the
First World War: the floor is in Karst marble, while the small altar was
made from a single block of stone from Mount Grappa .
The
exhibition spaces of the Vittoriano
Inside the Vittoriano there are
some exhibition spaces dedicated to the history of Italy, especially
that of the Risorgimento: the Central Museum of the Risorgimento with an
adjoining institute of study, the Sacrario delle Bandiere and an area
that hosts temporary exhibitions of artistic interest, historical,
sociological and cultural called "Brasini wing", from the name of the
architect who designed it. It is also possible to visit part of the
aforementioned archaeological finds found during the construction of the
Vittoriano. In the Sacrario delle Bandiere it is possible to visit the
rooms where, during the construction of the monument, the studio of
Giuseppe Sacconi was located.
Access to the Central Museum of the
Risorgimento is on the left side of the monument, at the back of the
Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, along via di San Pietro in Carcere.
It illustrates a period of Italian history, between the end of the 18th
century and the First World War, through the exhibition of relics,
paintings, sculptures, documents (letters, diaries and manuscripts),
drawings, engravings, weapons and prints.
On the entrance
stairway of the Central Museum of the Risorgimento engravings related to
some significant episodes for the birth of the Risorgimento movement are
visible, from the seed sown by the French Revolution to the Napoleonic
enterprises, in order to better frame and remember the national history
between the reform of the ancient Italian states and the end of the
First World War. Along the walls other marble engravings show some
passages of texts enunciated by prominent personalities, which best
testify and describe this part of Italian history.
The Central
Museum of the Risorgimento also includes the Shrine of the Flags, a
place where the war flags of the dissolved military units and the
radiated naval units, the banners of the military institutes and
suppressed units belonging to the armed bodies of the State are
collected and kept (Italian Army, Air Force, Navy, Carabinieri, State
Police, Penitentiary Police and Guardia di Finanza). The access to the
shrine is located along via dei Fori Imperiali: in this museum space
there are also relics relating to the wars especially of the
Risorgimento, in which the Italian armed forces took part.
The
Brasini wing, reserved for temporary exhibitions, is dedicated to
Armando Brasini, the main promoter of the Central Museum. The wing has
three exhibition rooms: the "large exhibition hall", having an area of
700 m² and generally hosting art exhibitions, which usually require
more space, the "central hall" of 400 m² and the "jubilee room", which
has an area of 150 m².