The building of the church, designed by Onofrio Antonio Gisolfi, was interrupted by the plague that struck the city in 1656, and was completed in 1682 by Cosimo Fanzago, who worked under the patronage of Cardinal Diego Innico Caracciolo di Martina.

The Church houses the bodies of the Neapolitan painter, Bernardo Cavallino, and father Antonio Torres, who, with the order of Piarists, distinguished themselves in service to the ill from the plague of 1656.

Paolo De Matteis painted a San Nicola expels Demons from a Tree (1712), which adorns the entrance of the church, and Death of St. Nicholas (1707), which sits behind the altar.

Dedicated to the guardian angel, depicted in the altarpiece of Giovan Battista Lama (a pupil of Giordano), the chapel hosts two paintings by Pietro Bardellino: St. Francis of Paola and Apollonia.

On the altar is Trinity by Nicola Maria Rossi, while side walls have two paintings by Giacinto Diano (pupil of De Mura) depicting the Departure and Arrival of Tobias.

There are two paintings on the side walls by Leonardo Pozzolano (pupil of Solimena), depicting Santa Maria Maddalena and San Giovanni Evangelista.