The Arco delle Scalette is located at the southeastern edge of the historic center of Vicenza and marks the beginning of one of the ascent routes to the Sanctuary of Monte Berico , built in the early fifteenth century on a site of Marian apparitions. The route is that of the Scalette, 192 steps divided into ramps, which at the time constituted the only access from the city to the sanctuary until the construction of the porticoes of Muttoni in the mid-eighteenth century. The Arco delle Scalette represents a precious testimony of Palladio's well-known ability as a set-up of triumphal paths on precise reminiscences of Roman classicism: in fact it can be traced back to the scheme of the Roman arch with unique arch, like that of Trajan in Ancona. The monument was almost completely rebuilt, using as much as possible the original material, following the damage suffered during an air raid in 1944.

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