Discover the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Rome at the Altare della Patria, learn its story, and find out how to visit this WWI memorial in Piazza Venezia, Rome.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Rome: what it is and where to find it

If you’ve ever visited Piazza Venezia in Rome, you’ve surely noticed the enormous white monument dominating the square. This is the Vittoriano, built between 1885 and 1935 to honor Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy.

If you look closely, right at the center of the Altare della Patria, under the statue of the goddess Roma, you’ll see a small shrine marked with the Latin words “IGNOTO MILITI” beneath a laurel wreath.

That is where the Milite Ignoto, the unknown Italian soldier, rests in Rome.

The “Milite Ignoto” is a World War I memorial in Rome located at the heart of the Altare della Patria inside the Vittoriano. It commemorates the thousands of Italian soldiers who died or went missing during the war without a name or identity.

Because of the symbolic importance of the unknown soldier, many Italians use “Altare della Patria” to refer to the entire Vittoriano in Rome, even though the altar is only one part of the larger monument.

Discover the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Rome at the Altare della Patria, learn its story, and find out how to visit this WWI memorial in Piazza Venezia, Rome.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Rome: what it is and where to find it

If you’ve ever visited Piazza Venezia in Rome, you’ve surely noticed the enormous white monument dominating the square. This is the Vittoriano, built between 1885 and 1935 to honor Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a unified Italy.

If you look closely, right at the center of the Altare della Patria, under the statue of the goddess Roma, you’ll see a small shrine marked with the Latin words “IGNOTO MILITI” beneath a laurel wreath.

That is where the Milite Ignoto, the unknown Italian soldier, rests in Rome

In 1921, three years after the end of World War I, Italy decided to bring the remains of an unidentified soldier to Rome to honor all those who never came home. Eleven unidentified bodies of Italian soldiers were chosen from different battlefields and brought to the Basilica of Aquileia.

Maria Bergamas, the mother of Antonio Bergamas, an Italian soldier whose body was never recovered, was chosen to represent all mothers who had lost a son in the war without knowing where he was buried.

Inside the Basilica, after walking past the first coffins, Maria collapsed in front of the tenth one and cried out her son’s name. That reaction marked the chosen body, which became the unknown soldier of Italy.

The chosen coffin was then taken to Rome, with crowds kneeling along the railway as the train passed. On November 4, 1921, it reached the Vittoriano, where a solemn procession escorted it to the Altare della Patria. This ceremony marked the birth of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Rome, today a powerful symbol of national memory.

If you’d like to include the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in your visit to Rome, or explore other historic and cultural sites in the area, send us a note at info@citylightstours.com and we’ll help you plan a route through Rome’s most important landmarks.