Stadio dei Marmi

In the early 1930’s Benito Mussolini built the Foro Mussolini in Rome. The Stadio dei Marmi, or Stadium of Statues was crowned with 60 statues of the masculine form, both athletic and mythological. The statues, most in various states of undress, and some nude, survived the ravages of WWII. Often associated with their facist roots, these statues are a testament to an ideal man, a vision of perfection, and are supremely homoerotic.