[2] In 1332, the inhabitants of quarter of San Vito moved near the castle of the Counts of Modica,[1] and for this reason a new mother church was built in the same place where the present one is located and it is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption.

[8] The church was rebuilt in 1669 by Archduke Joseph and Angelo Italia (an architect from the Society of Jesus), while the neo-classical façade was realized in 1786[9] by Emanuele Cardona.

In 1954, year of Mary,[12] on the first centenary of the introduction of the Immaculate Conception's dogma, a 3-metre-high (9.8 ft) statue of the Madonna was placed on the bell tower.

[13] The garden adjoining the church, since the 15th century, was used as a cemetery for poor people, with an altar where to celebrate Mass during maladies and a stone cross with an aedicula sacred to Our Lady of Mercy.

The church has a basilican plan with a nave and two side aisles which are divided by two rows of columns with monolithic marble shafts extracted from the near mount Bonifato.