Discover Altar of the Fatherland (Vittoriano)

The Vittoriano is the national monument to Victor Emmanuel II and to the unification of Italy, built between 1885 and 1911 to Giuseppe Sacconi's design in an eclectic style. It is 135 metres wide, 130 deep and 70 high — 81 with the bronze quadrigae and Winged Victories — and it closes the view up every street that meets piazza Venezia.

At its symbolic centre is the Altar of the Fatherland, first conceived as an altar to the goddess Roma and then, after the First World War, also the shrine of the Italian Unknown Soldier. His tomb sits beneath the statue of Roma, guarded permanently, with two flames burning in braziers that are never allowed to go out.

Most of it is free, and that is the thing to know. You can walk in and linger on the monument and in the great garden of Palazzo Venezia at no charge. The Panoramic Terrace on the roof, reached by two glass lifts added in 2007, the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento in the base and Palazzo Venezia are the ticketed parts.

The Vittoriano is the national monument to Victor Emmanuel II and to the unification of Italy, built between 1885 and 1911 to Giuseppe Sacconi's design in an eclectic style. It is 135 metres wide, 130 deep and 70 high — 81 with the bronze quadrigae and Winged Victories — and it closes the view up every street that meets piazza Venezia.

At its symbolic centre is the Altar of the Fatherland, first conceived as an altar to the goddess Roma and then, after the First World War, also the shrine of the Italian Unknown Soldier. His tomb sits beneath the statue of Roma, guarded permanently, with two flames burning in braziers that are never allowed to go out.

Most of it is free, and that is the thing to know. You can walk in and linger on the monument and in the great garden of Palazzo Venezia at no charge. The Panoramic Terrace on the roof, reached by two glass lifts added in 2007, the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento in the base and Palazzo Venezia are the ticketed parts.

The dimensions are the argument. 135 metres wide, 130 deep, 70 high to the roof and 81 counting the quadrigae and the Winged Victories. The entrance stairway is 41 metres wide and 34 long; the terrace of the Altar of the Fatherland is 66 metres across; the colonnade's columns stand 15 metres and its portico runs 72. The entrance gate alone is 40 metres long and weighs 10,500 tons.

It goes down as well as up. The Vittoriano's underground reaches 17 metres below street level — the base is a building in its own right, and it is where the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento is housed.

The plan is a single ascending route, and it is meant to be read as one. A staircase climbs to the terrace of the Altar of the Fatherland — the first raised platform and the symbolic centre. Past the tomb of the Unknown Soldier the path continues upward, deliberately, to represent an unbroken procession of Italians, as far as the portico and the propylaea at the top. Beside the Altar the stairway splits into two symmetrical ramps parallel to the tomb, each reaching a pronaos with a door into the interior, each door aligned with one of the two propylaea.

The style is eclectic, and that is a period label rather than an insult. Sacconi drew on Hellenistic and Roman precedent — the great terraced sanctuaries rather than the temple front — which is why the monument reads as a hillside of architecture rather than a single façade.

It was built by clearing a quarter of the city first. Between the last months of 1884 and 1899 the site was emptied by numerous expropriations and extensive demolitions of the buildings standing on it — a dense historic quarter on the north slope of the Capitoline. That is the single most consequential fact about its construction, and the reason the monument stands in an open void rather than in a street pattern.

The structure goes down 17 metres as well as up 70. The base is a building in its own right, deep enough to house the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento below the terraces. Above ground the mass is 135 metres wide and 130 deep, rising to 81 metres once the bronze quadrigae and Winged Victories are counted.

The parts were made to be walked, not just looked at. The entrance stairway is 41 metres wide and 34 long; it climbs to the 66-metre terrace of the Altar of the Fatherland, then splits into two symmetrical ramps running parallel to the tomb, each reaching a pronaos whose door lines up with one of the two propylaea. The colonnade above is carried on columns 15 metres high across a 72-metre portico. The single entrance gate is 40 metres long and weighs 10,500 tons.

The one piece of modern engineering is the lift, added in 2007, which finally made the roof reachable. Everything above the free terraces had been a climb for ninety-six years.

Do I have to pay to go into the Vittoriano? No. The monument itself and the great garden of Palazzo Venezia are free to enter and linger in. Only the Panoramic Terrace, the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento and Palazzo Venezia require the €18 ticket.

Then what is the €18 for? The lift to the Panoramic Terrace at the top, the Risorgimento museum in the base, and Palazzo Venezia — plus the temporary exhibition. One entry to each, valid for seven days from issue.

Is there a free day? The first Sunday of each month, when the ticketed parts are free too. On that day the ticket is valid only for the day of issue rather than seven days.

Is it wheelchair accessible? Largely yes, which is unusual for central Rome. The Aracoeli-side entrance has a stairlift and a lift to the Terrazza Italia, two panoramic lifts continue to the summit terrace, Palazzo Venezia has two lifts to the second floor, and about 90% of the public spaces are reachable by lift. Courtesy wheelchairs are available.

Where do I go in? From piazza Venezia. Be aware that the entrance never coincides with the exit — the route is one-way.

Who is buried here? An unidentified Italian soldier of the First World War, chosen on 28 October 1921 by Maria Bergamas of Gradisca d'Isonzo from among eleven unknown remains, and buried in a state funeral on 4 November 1921. He stands for all the war's fallen and missing.

How tall is it? 70 metres to the roof, and 81 counting the bronze quadrigae and Winged Victories. It is 135 metres wide and 130 deep, and its foundations reach 17 metres below street level.

Why do Romans have mixed feelings about it? Building it required extensive expropriations and demolitions between late 1884 and 1899, which removed a dense historic quarter on the north slope of the Capitoline. It was also appropriated by the Fascist regime after 1922 as a parade ground, before being stripped of those symbols in 1946.

Is the view better than from the Gianicolo or St Peter's dome? It is different and, for the ancient city, better. This is the only high central viewpoint that looks straight down the Imperial Fora. The Gianicolo gives the classic skyline and is free; St Peter's gives the dome's own view and a long climb.