[3] The street was built in the last decade of the 19th century, rectifying and expanding the path of Via Giulia and Via della Consolazione, to create a new route towards the east, which until then had inadequate outlets for the city's urban expansion.

[7] The street was strongly advocated by Mayor Andrea Podestà, but opposed by the resident population because building it required demolishing houses and shops.

[7] The stretch of road affecting the district of San Vincenzo (from the Monumental Bridge to Via Fiume), while not having the sumptuous appearance of the part between Piazza De Ferrari and the Monumental Bridge, characterized by high arcades with Venetian flooring, is equally filled with elegant palaces and shops, making the street one of the city's most frequented destinations for shopping and strolling.

[10] Via XX Settembre was redesigned on the axis of the two streets when, at the end of the 19th century, starting from 1892, the urban reorganization of the entire city center was decided.

Just before the Monumental Bridge is the Church dedicated to Santa Rita, called the Nostra Signora della Consolazione e San Vincenzo martire, whose entrance, corresponding to the level of the old streets, remains slightly lower than the current roadbed.

During the city's redevelopment for the G8 summit in 2001, the sidewalks on half of the street facing Piazza De Ferrari were widened by several meters to allow for increased pedestrian traffic.

The long artery opened in the late nineteenth century is divided in two by the Monumental Bridge: the buildings in the upper part are equipped with arcades and architecturally more elegant, while in the eastern part prevail structures in reinforced concrete, innovative for the time, enriched by typical decorations of the Art Nouveau, which characterizes much of the new central areas of the city, or by traditional elements, inspired by Mannerist architecture or Florentine Gothic.

[2] In the design, some of the most well-known Italian engineers and architects of the time were involved, such as Gino Coppedè, Luigi Rovelli, Benvenuto Pesce Maineri, Cesare Gamba, Dario Carbone, Gaetano Orzali, Stefano Cuneo, Raffaele Croce, Giuseppe Tallero, G. B. Carpineti, the Celle brothers, and others.

Becoming one of the symbolic places of the modern city, it divides the Portoria area from that of S. Vincenzo and offers an excellent view over the underlying Via XX Settembre.