Balbo Monument, Roman column monument in Burnham Park, Chicago, United States

The Balbo Monument is a greenish breccia column 13 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter, mounted on a travertine base by the architects Capraro and Komar. The column was removed from the Prospetto a Mare, a building about 200 metres outside the Porta Marina at Ostia, and stands in Burnham Park near Lake Michigan.

The column was cut from breccia at Ostia's Prospetto a Mare, a building about 200 metres outside the Porta Marina, and dates from between 117 and 38 BC. Mussolini had it removed and gave it to Chicago in 1933 for the Century of Progress; it arrived by boat in 1934 and was set before the Italian Pavilion. After the fair was dismantled the column stayed in Burnham Park.

The monument marks a historic moment when Italian seaplanes first crossed the Atlantic to reach Chicago during the 1933 World Fair. Today, visitors can read inscriptions on the column that tell the story of this aviation achievement.

The column stands in an often overlooked stretch of Burnham Park, a short distance from the Lake Michigan shore, near where the Italian Pavilion of the 1933–34 fair once stood. Approach on foot along the lakefront path; the monument is a freestanding column on a travertine base, visible from the walkway.

The column is one of Chicago's oldest outdoor artifacts, from a time long before the city was founded. It carries Italian inscriptions that mark its journey from ancient Rome to America.