[1] According to more recent hypotheses, this monument was instead built in the year 1797, right after the visit of the kings Ferdinand IV and Maria Carolina of Austria in the city of Altamura.

[3][4] According to more recent studies by the scholar Michele Marvulli (1996), this monument dates back to the year 1797, when the kings of the Kingdom of Naples Ferdinand IV and Maria Carolina of Austria visited the city of Altamura, as testified by a few sources.

[5] In support of this, Vitangelo Bisceglia's chronicles (unknown to Ottavio Serena) state that in 1799 the "royal army" placed two years earlier on the occasion of the visit of the kings was destroyed in the San Martino district (i.e. the area where the monument is located):[6] Another point in support of this is that in Michele Rotunno's chronicle (relating to the events of 1799 to Altamura) the monument is cited in order to indicate the direction in which the fugitives were headed in the year 1799.

[7] The monument originally contained an inscription, an imperial eagle symbol and a coat of arms.

The inscription and the coat of arms were both erased following the restoration and the return of the Bourbons to Naples.