It was taken from an ancient port town outside of Rome by Benito Mussolini and given to the city of Chicago in 1933 to honor the trans-Atlantic flight led by Italo Balbo to the Century of Progress Worlds Fair.

[5] Two Italian architects named Capraro and Komar created the base of the monument[1] out of travertine,[2] a type of light colored limestone frequently used in Roman architecture.

In English the message reads: This column twenty centuries old erected on the beach of Ostia port of Imperial Rome to safeguard the fortunes and victories of the Roman triremes Fascist Italy, by command of Benito Mussolini, presents to Chicago exaltation, symbol, memorial of the Atlantic Squadron led by Balbo that with Roman daring flew across the ocean in the 11th year of the Fascist era.

While the fair was eventually disassembled, the column was left standing in its original place just a short distance from the shores of Lake Michigan in an often overlooked area of Burnham Park.

[15] Mixed emotions about the monument survive to this day: some observers regard its link to Fascism as unacceptable, while older Chicago residents hold on to fond memories of an age of progress.