It is an elegant I century AD construction of the Roman architect Lucio Vitruvio Cerdone, that celebrates the splendour of the gens Gavia, an important Roman family of Verona. In ancient times it overlooked the Via Postumia. The arch was differently used by the Veronese until 1805 when the French troops dismantled it to enlarge the north-eastern entrance gate to the town.

In 1932 the monument was re-assembled on the green open space next to Castelvecchio where it can be admired today.
Classic- style columns, tympanums, capitals and friezes embellish the four fronts while the niches on the two main sides of the arch originally contained marble statues – no longer extant – of important members of the gens Gavia.