On November 4, 1918, Italy defeated Austria-Hungary in what for many of its compatriots represented the Fourth War of Independence, the one necessary to complete the Risorgimento's path to national unification.

It was a devastating conflict for all of Europe, and contemporaries called it the Great War. The human cost borne by Italy was over 650.000 dead and 1.5 million wounded, maimed, and disabled. The fury of the fighting and the destructive power of the new weapons left countless bodies unaccounted for on all battlefronts, and the "Unknown Soldier" entered the collective imagination as an example of absolute dedication and ultimate sacrifice for the homeland.

As far as the Kingdom of Italy was concerned, the epic of the Unknown Soldier was sealed by a train that crossed the country in 1921, from the choice made by Maria Bergamas in the Basilica of Aquileia to the transfer to Rome, touching half of Italy amid the mourning of veterans and their families, of the train carrying the coffin of the Unknown Soldier, accompanied by authorities and war widows.

Demonstrations took place at every station, including a massive demonstration in Rome, all the way to the burial site at the Vittoriano, which has since been the Altar of the Fatherland for all Italians. Demonstrations were also repeated in Italy's major cities: Milan, Turin, Genoa, Naples, and Palermo.

Glory. Apotheosis of the Unknown Soldier It is the documentary made at the time by the Italian Film Federation and today visible on the YouTube channel of the Cineteca del Friuli, which restored the historic film.