Monument to the Bersagliere, Porta Pia

The statue was inaugurated on 18 September 1932 in the presence of King Vittorio Emanuele III, Prince Umberto, Benito Mussolini, Achille Starace, and the Governor of Rome Francesco Boncompagni Ludovisi.

The fascist government favored virile and bellicose monuments, recalling or inspiring the dreams of empire.

The monument has a statue of a dynamic and stern bersaglieri or marksman, running towards the gate, made of bronze, with the rifle in his right hand and the trumpet in his left.

The large oval travertine base was made by the sculptor Mancini, with a series of bas-reliefs in Trani stone depicting Bersaglieri-linked battles or soldiers, sculpted by Morbiducci, including the Battle of Ponte di Goito, the death of Luciano Manara, the breach of Porta Pia, on the left; and the Battle of Sciara Sciat (Shar al-Shatt), the wounding of Enrico Toti, the death of Alberto Riva di Villasanta, on the right.

Under the reliefs, are two inscriptions in geometric sans serifs (with the V substituting for U: one by Mussolini himself: "Just a century of history, but how many sacrifices, how many battles and how much glory!".

Monument from the Eastern side