It was built in 1805 in memory of Napoleone's passage through Reggio, an initiative similar to the one taken by other cities at that time. The monument, work of one of the greatest architects operating in Reggio in the first half of the XIX century, Domenico Marchelli, inserts itself in the overall renovation of the north side of the Via Emilia when the colonnades were demolished and the current alignment of buildings in neoclassic style was built.