It was initially designed to be placed in the center of the Quattro Canti but was eventually erected in its current location.

The statue of Charles V was created by Scipione Li Volsi of the Li Volsi [it] family of Sicilian sculptors.

It portrays him as a triumphant Roman Emperor, with reference to his months-long stop in Sicily (including Palermo) following the Conquest of Tunis (1535).

[1] The marble pedestal is by Giacomo Cirasolo and Luigi Geraci with sculptures by Giovanni Tagliavia.

The Latin inscriptions praise Charles and compare him to "the brothers Robert [Guiscard] and Roger [first Count of Sicily]", who had brought an end to Muslim rule in Palermo in January 1072.