Dedicated to the Pacific War hero Admiral Miguel Grau, who lost his life in the Battle of Angamos, the "Plaza Grau" was officially inaugurated in October 1946. At the statue build with granite and bronze every year Peruvian Navy Officials lay a wreath to honour this grand captain of the Navy and all comrades who died during this terrible war.

Before the arrival of the Spaniards in Peru the place known today as the Plaza Italia was a very important ceremonial temple or huaca. Unfortunately the conquistadores destroyed this ancient site and build instead a plaza on this piece of land. In 1550 the "Iglesia Santa Ana" (Church of Santa Ana) was erected, a once glorious church that is still standing but lost its colonial beauty - back then the place was called "Plaza Santa Ana".

In the middle of the 18th century, Viceroy Manuel de Amat drew up plans for the construction of a special bullfight ring in Lima. Since 1538, when the first bullfight according to Ricardo Palma, famous Peruvian writer, took place, most bullfights spectacles were held on the Plaza Mayor and later at a simple wooden construction built on the place of the Plaza de Acho. The Plaza de Acho we know today was inaugurated in 1766 near the Rimac river.