We head off through appealing streets towards the Via Corso,
…passing through an imposing, faded arcade of once fine shops (now closed or disused) with apartments or offices on several floors above.
The Via Corso (the middle one of the three roads heading south-ish from the Piazza Del Popolo, remember?) leads to one of the city’s most significant and yet controversial monuments, the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II) or more often,"Il Vittoriano", is a huge edifice built to honour Victor Emanuel, the first king of unified Italy. Designed in 1895, it required the services of dozens of sculpors from all over Italy, was inaugurated in 1911 and completed in 1925.
Constructed entirely of white marble, it remains controversial because of it’s location (set into the base of the Capitoline Hill, it destroyed mediaeval buildings previously existing on the site), it’s immense size, (even without a tower, you can see it from virtually any mildly elevated part of the city, more so because it’s gleaming white façade clashes with the essentially brown or grey buildings around it) and because of its design – nicknames abound, including ‘the Wedding Cake’, ‘the Typewriter’ and worse!
As has become normal on our trips, key buildings (Duomo in Florence, Guggenheim in New York, Le Seu in Barcelona..) are generally sheeted up and under refurbishment. The Vittoriano is no exception. The bulk of the building is visible, but the numerous, inner columns on the upper level are all hidden. C’est la vie, I suppose.. just means we’ll have to come back!
The busy square in front of the monument, Piazza Venezia, is a hub for several roads and almost chaotic at this time of day (although it’s probably silly most of the time!). The centre is also excavated and shuttered off – part of the third Metro line construction, I think.
We brave the perils of the Roman traffic and manage to get onto the Vittoriano steps. There are no problems walking up to the various levels, even though a fair number of tourists and tour parties are in the vicinity.
There are temporary art exhibitions and a permanent museum within the buiding, but we don’t plan on ‘doing’ many galleries etc this trip, preferring to concentrate on the architecture of the city.
We stroll up the steps and take the required photographs. On the first ‘landing’ is Italy’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, attended by two, motionless and probably frozen guards, standing on red plinths either side of the grave.
Up again, and you reach the base of Emanuel’s statue. This is one of the world’s largest, at 12m x 10m – apparently his moustache is 3m across!
We descend and walk around to the right of the building. A bit of sunshine breaks through and takes the chill off for a minute. I turn round in response to a tap on my arm – a British lady asks “is this yours?” and hands me my camera in its case! Eek! It had un-Velcroed itself from my belt and dropped (cushioned in the case, thankfully) on to the steps. Thankyou!
It’s 3.50, and after catching up on my trippie notes, we are too chilled to stand around and head off along the streets west of the Vittoriano, on a vague route towards the Piazza Navona. We stumble first though into the striking and beautiful ruins of Largo Di Torre Aregentina.
This is a city block-sized square surrounding the (sunken) remains of four, Republican era temples, and include the site of Julius Caesar’s assassination. It now hosts a thriving colony of rescued cats, cared for by volunteers who also tend the felines at several other, city centre sites. The cats look to be in their element here, and although some have missing limbs or ears etc., they are all well fed and in good, general health.
Interestingly, many of the city’s ancient remains are sign ificantly lower the present day roads and pavements, leading to the impression that for some reason they were built partly below surrounding levels. The simple truth is that modern Rome is around 15 feet higher than in Caesars’ day because each generation has been happily knocking down bits of the last century’s structures and building on top of the rubble instead of removing it.
We continue on a few streets to Piazza Navona. This is thought to be Rome’s most famous square, and, unlike many others, is effectively traffic free (but watch out for those scooters!) It’s oval shape is due to the current buildings respecting the original outline of the Stadium of Domitian, a principle, 1st Century AD athletics and chariot racing venue.
