Virtually painless was the descent in Southern Italy of the Hungarian army of Louis I in 1348, to whom the local population immediately declared fidelity, saving the place from being looted, as it happened to other neighboring centres.

In 1495, with the arrival in Italy of Charles VIII of France to claim the Kingdom of Naples, Mola, along with other ports in Apulia, was ceded by the Aragonese to the Republic of Venice, in exchange for a huge loan.

Back again under the Toraldo family, the city then passed to the Carafa, and in 1584 the people from Mola managed to collect the considerable sum of 50,000 ducats, which allowed them to break free from the feudal yoke to be subject only to the royal property.

Between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the building followed the fate of the town and passed through the hands of various feudal lords, resisting numerous attacks without ever being taken.

However the considerable damage with the Venetian siege of 1508 imposed a radical restoration, which took place a few years later on a military project by architect Evangelista Menga, who gave it its current form of star polygon.

The Archbishop of Bari Girolamo Sauli therefore requested its reconstruction, which took place in the years 1547–1575 through the work of Dalmatian masters Francesco and Giovanni from Šibenik and John from Korcula.

Recent renovations have enhanced the rose window and the two portals, the Lions (on the left side) and Dwarfs bearing the door columns (in front).