Find out the history of the independence and the unification of Italy with our guided tour!
Our tour of the Altar of the Fatherland begins at the foot of the imposing stairways. From here we can easily observe the whole monument and the most significant sculptures. Then, we will continue the visit going up to the level of the equestrian statue of Vittorio Emanuele II, the center of the composition, by the sculptors Chiaradia and Gallori, a bronze sculpture of colossal dimensions.
From this point, you will have a better view of the decoration of the base and the statue of the goddess Roma, the center of the composition.
We will climbing the Terrace of the Bulletin, for more comfortable viewing of the upper levels of the monument, and a panoramic look from above the square.
The Altar of the Fatherland tour will continue inside the monument. Our first stop inside the Altar will be the Crypt of the Unknown Soldier that since November 4, 1921, houses the remains of an anonymous young soldier, who died in the First World War, representing all the Italians who fell, whose bodies were never identified.
Then, we will visit the Sacrarium of Flags, which displays the flags used in the battles for the independence and the unification of Italy. We will move to the Sacrarium of the Navy, which houses the flags of navy units now disarmed, along with memorabilia of the history of the Navy.
Leaving the Altar of the Fatherland, to complete our guided tour we will pay a visit to the Museum of Risorgimento, rich in relics and testimonies of three centuries of our history.
The Central Museum of Risorgimento, second step of our Altar of the Fatherland tour, was designed at the beginning of ‘900, upon completion of the Altar of the Fatherland itself.
The guided tour of the museum’s collections will take visitors inside the Vittoriano, in a space that along the walls, houses pieces of important witnesses and protagonists of the history of Italy. The testimonies exhibited are drawn from the rich archives of the Institute of Risorgimento, consisting not only of paper materials but items such as memorabilia, etchings, paintings, weapons, as well as photographs and printed books, selected for their educational and historiographical value.
Our itinerary of visiting the Museum of Risorgimento, then winds through the following sections of the exhibition:
Amongst the most curious and interesting items of our tour, are the trousers of Garibaldi, worn during the landing at Marsala, boots pierced by a bullet in Aspromonte, the death masks of Mazzini and Cavour, the album of photographs of the Thousand, a selection of weapons that belonged to the protagonists of Risorgimento, the gun carriage used for transporting the body of the Unknown Soldier and many more.
To complement the visit to the Museum of Risorgimento, along the way, you can view rare period films and listen to military songs from the 19th century and the First World War.
