At the base of Capitoline Hill is the most hated building in Italy, the Victor Emmanuel Monument. It was built in the 1890's to celebrate the creation of Italy as a unified country in 1871. It's huge and very ornate, and despised by everyone, except I think tourists quite like it. Certainly it's photogenic, and I have to say I can't see why anyone would have such strong feelings against it. One oddity is the marble used is extremely white and apparently will never fade into the softer colors typical of Rome. It also more or less separates Capitoline Hill from the rest of Rome, which I agree isn't great urban planning. But it's very far from deserving all the abuse heaped on it. Across the street from the monument is the Palazzo Venezia, a huge, austere brown brick building that served as Venice's embassy to Rome until they became one country. Mussolini used the palazzo's balcony to addresss the adoring throngs during the second world war. Nowadays it houses Italy's premier interior design museum, and I was honestly very excited about seeing the museum and the palace. And that of course guaranteed that it was closed for some special event the whole time we were there.