Vittorio Emanuele Monument

One of Rome's most controversial landmarks, the Vittorio Emanuele Monument. Victor Emmanuel II was the first monarch of Italy in the mid to late 1800's. This monument was built of white Brescian marble in the late 1800's. It is often ridiculed because of its harsh white color in a city of more muted golden-beige architecture. The Vittoria Emanuele Monument is probably Italy's most flamboyant landmark, and has been described as everything from a "wedding cake" to a typewriter.