It is at one end of Piazza Mercato (Market Square), the centre of civic life in Naples for many centuries until it was cut off from the rest of the city by urban renewal in 1900.

The church was founded in the 13th century by Carmelite friars driven from the Holy Land in the Crusades, presumably arriving in the Bay of Naples aboard Amalfitan ships.

A statue was erected to Conrad's memory, commissioned by then crown-prince, Maximilian II of Bavaria, designed by the Neoclassic sculptor Thorvaldsen, and completed by his pupil Schopf in 1847.

In 1647 the square was the site of battles between rebels and royal troops during Masaniello's revolt, and later, in 1799, it was the scene of the mass execution of leaders of the Neapolitan Republic of 1799.

The area – including parts of the church premises – was heavily bombed in World War II and still shows the scars of the devastation.