Built in honour of the Commendatory Cardinal Giovanni Colonna in 1503, the monument, before being located where it now stands, that is to say in the Porta district, stood majestically on the other side of the old bridge over the Aniene, where the old state road to Subiaco used to run. It was moved at the beginning of the 18th C. after having been knocked down and destroyed by heavy flooding of the Aniene river.