Rome's centerpiece, built at the end of the nineteenth century in celebration of Italian unity and named after the new nation's first king. It took forty years to build, and what finally emerged was a remarkable city-scape split personality: what it is is lamentable, what it does is admirable . . .
In the midst of it all is the grave of Italy's Unknown Soldier, marked by an eternal flame and guarded by two live sentries . . .
Given a larger perspective, however, the Monument possesses some unexpected compensating virtues . . .
. . . And then there is the biggest surprise of all: night-time. After darkness falls, the floodlights around the Piazza Venezia come on, and an astonishing transformation takes place . . . .
Set against the darkened sky, the ponderous lump of marble finally becomes what its builders meant it to be: a mighty cast-of-thousands Roman triumph extravaganza that carries all aesthetic objections before it. This is no longer just architecture, this is theater, and the jump in voltage is dazzling. At night the Victor Emmanuel Monuments is, quite simply, a sight to behold.