A church on this site had been present since the 13th century, putatively erected by St Francis of Assisi himself.

In 1761, the building was refurbished and a façade and some were added, based on designs by Mario Ludovico Quarini and Bernardo Vittone.

Rodolfo Morgari retouched the frescoes on the ceiling of the presbytery, and his pupil, Alberto Masoero, repainted the vault of the central nave.

The chapel of the Immaculate Conception is richly decorated with marble, and has canvases depicting a Visitation and an Annunciation by Giovanni Antonio Molineri, the pupil of Luigi Caraccio.

[1] The chapel of Sant'Anna (1637) was enriched with late-Baroque stucco decoration; the main altarpiece depicting Madonna and Child and St Anne is attributed to Federico Zuccari.