The Bridge of Vittorio Emanuele II is dedicated to the first king of Italy and was inaugurated in 1911 to celebrate 50 years of the Kingdom of Italy.

It is the important nexus of the road, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, which links up two parts of the city, Piazza Venezia and the Vatican.
This was the first major arterial road built for the new capital.
In part, it follows the ancient Via Papale, the old road that went from St.Peter to Rome's Cathedral, San Giovanni in Laterano.
Corso Vittorio linked the Vatican, the ever-expanding adjacent areas, and Piazza Venezia, where, more or less at the same time, the Vittoriano was inaugurated.
The symbolic value attached to this bridge is clear from the groups of marble statues which decorate it and make it the most imposing bridge built in Rome since the nation's birth.