The name of the bridge is associated with the builder of that passage: São Gonçalo de Amarante. He built it with the help of the people and, more interestingly, through several miracles. That saint moved the largest stones and summoned the fish to feed the workers, so it is believed.

In 1763, the weight of the rain caused the bridge to collapse. By luck or by miracle, the Gothic image of Nossa Senhora da Piedade (which was on a two-sided cross in the passage) remained intact. Today it is preserved in a corner of the church and in front of the new bridge, which has since been rebuilt.

The bridge marked a new encounter with history and became the scene of the heroic national struggle and resistance against Napoleonic troops during the French invasions. A plaque placed on one of the pyramids in the passage commemorates the event, which earned the municipality the collar of the Military Order of the Tower and the Sword.

The 50-metre-long bridge supports a deck with four semicircular balconies and, at each end, two baroque obelisks with epigraphic inscriptions. These evoke the episode of the battles against Napoleonic forces and the honour that the Portuguese victory brought to Amarante.