Júlio de Castilhos Avenue (Caxias do Sul)

Its evolution is intertwined with the history of Caxias, whose urban center remains as the main point of the city, and still holds several architectural examples of interest.

[2][3][4] In 1876, engineer Augusto Francisco Gonçalves, a government official, apparently at the suggestion of Luiz Antônio Feijó Júnior, determined that the colonial headquarters should be transferred from Nova Milano to the Campo dos Bugres, about 15 km to the east, situated on the border of the 5th and 7th leagues, exactly over the old Indigenous camp and path, which began to be deforested, filled in, and cleared.

The center of the settlement was marked with the opening of the Dante Alighieri Square, where the Mother Church was built, bordered on its north side by Rua Grande.

Soon, stores and boarding houses were established there, as well as public festivals and meetings, but the suburban extensions to the east and west, where the old road penetrated into the countryside, would remain very precarious until the beginning of the 20th century.

[3] At the beginning of the 20th century, the street was still unpaved, but some stretches already had sidewalks, and many residences and other elegant buildings, such as the Scotti and Sassi palaces and the Central Theater, were already visible.

[12][7] In 1958, the Monument to Italy was inaugurated at João Pessoa Square, at the corner with Feijó Júnior Street, in the São Pelegrino neighborhood.

In the late 1970s, the section that runs through the Dante Square was closed and transformed into a tree-lined sidewalk, but the obstruction of the city's main artery caused traffic jams throughout the center.

[16] The avenue has historical buildings along most of its route, such as the Pompéia Hospital, the João Spadari Adami Municipal Historical Archive, the first Methodist Church, the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Saldanha Bookstore, but the main concentration is in the Dante Alighieri Square section, where more than half of the buildings situated on the avenue are heritage properties, including the French and Brazilian Bank, the Sassi House, the old Central Cinema, the Scotti House, and the Clube Juvenil Headquarters.