Piazza Venezia
Piazza Venezia—“Venice Square”—is Rome’s central crossroads where streets like the Via dei Fori Imperiali and the Via del Corso meet, right by the foot of the Capitoline Hill and next to Trajan’s Forum. The name comes from Palazzo Venezia, built by the Venetian Cardinal Pietro Barbo, who later became Pope Paul II, alongside the church of Saint Mark; that palace even served as the embassy of the Republic of Venice in Rome. On one side, you have Italy’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, set within the Altare della Patria, part of the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy’s first king. And this open space has had a big modern voice: in the 1920s to 1940s, Mussolini used the piazza for public speeches to supporters. Then there’s the surprise beneath your feet. In 2009, excavations for the Rome C Metro Line (the station Venezia) uncovered remains of Emperor Hadrian’s Athenaeum. That’s a lot of history hiding in one everyday square.
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