Bartolo Longo started restoring a church in disrepair in October 1873 and promoted a festival in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary.

[2] In 1875, Longo obtained a painting of Our Lady of the Rosary from a convent in Naples and raised funds to restore the image so as to locate it in the church.

[2] Bartolo Longo was encouraged by Giuseppe Formisano, Bishop of Nola, to begin the construction of a larger church—the cornerstone being laid on the 8 May 1876.

Originally bought by Dominican priest Alberto Radente for eight carlini in Naples,[4] it was offered to Bartolo Longo on the 13 November 1875 for the church he was building in Pompei.

[7] In November 2024, Pope Francis wrote a letter timed to co-incide with the 150 year sesqui-centenary anniversary of the arrival of the painting at Pompeii in 1875.

The facade culminates with the statue of the Virgin of the Rosary (18,000 kg (40,000 lb), 3.25 m (10.7 ft)),[1] work of Gaetano Chiaromonte, carved from a single block of Carrara marble, beneath which are placed the word "PAX" and the year "MCMI" (1901).