In 1878, a few years after the unification of Italy, the Italian Parliament decided to dedicate a monument to King Vittorio Emanuele II, who had recently passed away, and with him to the entire Risorgimento period. After having announced two international competitions (in 1880 and 1882), the project by Giuseppe Sacconi, a young architect from the Marche region, inspired by the great sanctuaries of the classical age, was chosen: a wide staircase leads to the Altar of the Fatherland, to the propylaea and to the grandiose colonnaded portico surmounted by bronze quadrigas, allegories of the Unity of the Fatherland and of Freedom.