Via Nazionale - Rome, Italy - Looking toward the Vittoriano

A broad view along the Via Nazionale axis toward Piazza Venezia, with the Vittoriano rising prominently at the end of the street in central Rome.

Via Nazionale is one of the major thoroughfares created during Rome’s transformation into the capital of unified Italy in the late 19th century. In this photograph, the broad avenue leads the eye toward Piazza Venezia and the monumental Vittoriano, whose white colonnaded structure and bronze quadriga rise above the surrounding city. Strictly speaking, Via Nazionale ends at Largo Magnanapoli, while the same urban axis continues toward Piazza Venezia through Via IV Novembre and Via Cesare Battisti. The street was conceived as an important modern connection between the area of Termini station and the historic centre, and its development reshaped this part of Rome considerably. Historic palaces, shops, hotels and institutional buildings line the route, while the distant Vittoriano provides one of the city centre’s most recognizable focal points.