Il Vittoriano

Universally known as "The Wedding Cake" or "The Giant Typewriter," the Victory Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II at the very center of Rome is the hideously ugly monument you gotta love anyway

Variously derided as "The Wedding Cake" or "The Giant Typewriter," the Monument to Victor Emanuel II—Rome's blindingly white elephant of a commemorative pile of marble devoted to modern Italy's first king—became a whole lot friendlier in 2000 when they decided to reopen it to the public, free of charge.

Now you can scramble up the snowy white steps of "Il Vittoriano," past the guards on the eternal flame to Italy's unknown soldiers and numerous self-important relief carvings of events during Italy's 1860s/1870s Risorgimento unification movement, to the monstrous colonnade at the top.

Here, the views sweep across central Rome to the front, and across the Forum and Imperial Fori behind.

For an even more magnificent view, pay to ride the elevator all the way to the top, the Terrazza delle Quadrighe terrace around one of those massive bronze horse-pulled chariots looking as if they are about to take off from the monument's roof. Up here, you get a 360-degree view over the heart of Rome.

Note that the main, obvious entrance on Piazza Venezia closes at 4pm, but you can get itno the monument later via side entrances: off Piazza del Campidoglio, off Piazza d'Araocoieli (via a service elevator) and from within the Museo del Risorgimento on the Via dei Fori Imperial side (around to the left when approaching the monument).

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