At the heart of the city, it's the main shopping street of Vicenza, where people usually walk up and down making the so-called "vasche in corso". The route has remained virtually unchanged since Roman times, when it served Vicetia as the decumanus maximus, based on Via Postumia. It is long about seven hundred meters from Piazza Castello to Piazza Matteotti (from west to east), and is surronded by a "gallery" of churches and prestigious buildings, in part signed by Palladio. 
The avenue is completely closed to traffic since 1983 (as most of the surrounding streets) and the pavement is still made with porphyry. Much of its route is flanked by arcades.