Largely thanks to Mussolini, there are quite a few very odd places in Rome (see EUR below). But they don't come much odder than the Foro Italico. This sporting complex in north-western Rome was built between 1928 and 1938 and was intended to act as a symbol of Mussolini's new Rome - i.e. a pastiche of ancient Rome. The central piazza of the complex was a grand elongated square - the forum proper - entirely covered in black and white mosaics celebrating the ideals and achievements of the regime. There are a lot of mosaics in Rome but not many depict planes and tanks:
And just to give the whole ensemble a particularly surreal twist, the Foro Italico was the location for most of the 1960 Olympics. All of these mosaics, therefore, coat the main access route to the Olympic stadium and every weekend are walked over by tens of thousands of Roma and Lazio fans; in fact, the whole complex lies inside the ticket-gates for the stadium.
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