The name Cortina putatively derives from being nearby the offices of the ducal court in Piacenza.
[2] A church was initially built here by Bishop San Savino (375–420) to house the relics of the martyr and saint Antoninus of Piacenza (died 303).
Those relics, putatively found in a well, were later transferred to the nearby large basilica of Sant'Antonino.
In 1563, it was no longer considered a parish church, and a few years later it was converted in the oratory for the Congregation of the Dottrina Cristiana, which had been established by the blessed Paolo Burali to educate the youth about the faith.
In 1856 the church was again refurbished to give it its simple exterior appearance with a round oculus over a peaked portal.