The church is just northeast of the Piazza della Rocca Albornoz, just diagonally behind the Palazzo Grandori, at the northern edge (near Porta Fiorentina) of historic Viterbo.

The church was built from 1237, on land donated by Pope Gregory IX to the Franciscan Order.

A pre-existing Palazzo degli Alemanni, dating to 1208, was incorporated in the convent complex annexed to the church.

An inscription on the façade states that the church, partly destroyed by the Allied bombings of 17 January 1944, was rebuilt and reopened in 1953.

Above it are the insignia of Pope Pius XII, who elevated the church to the rank of minor basilica in 1949,[1] and, above it, three single mullioned windows and an oculus.