At the beginning of the 1920s, the architects Manfredi and Piacentini presented a project for the eastern front of the Vittoriano
In 1911, for the inauguration, the eastern side of the Vittoriano was a long way from being finished, especially due to the structural damage that had come about since 1900, in the midst of construction work.
Aerial view of the Vittoriano before its inauguration in 1911
Front page of Il Messaggero dedicated to the grand opening of the Vittoriano
From 1912 and for the following ten years, there were multiple studies and proposals to find a definitive solution to the structural problems. Finally, in June 1922, the Artistic Direction of the Vittoriano, composed of the architects Manfredo Manfredi (1859-1927) and Pio Piacentini (1846-1928), presented an overall construction and redevelopment project.
Architects Koch, Piacentini and Manfredi, who oversaw the architectural and artistic decoration of the Vittoriano starting in 1905
Approved in 1923 by the High Council of Public Works, the Manfredi-Piacentini project included, among other things, the construction of a 19 x 21 metre block, consisting of two superimposed quadrangular halls to be allocated for use as the Central Museum of the Risorgimento and a building to connect with the portico of the Ara Coeli monastery, built in the second half of the sixteenth century by Jacopo Barozzi, known as ‘Vignola’ (1508-1573).
The Convent of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli (Saint Mary of the Altar of Heaven) being demolished as part of the changes made to the Piazza Venezia area
Demolition on the Capitoline Hill, circa 1885