It was built between the 17th and the 18th century in the Baroque style by the Piarist Fathers, as the coat of arms above the portal testify. The church keeps one of the bombs dropped on the nearby Boarding School during the French siege of 1793.

The building adjacent to the former Jesuit cloister is easily reached from the port or from via Manno across a steep flight of stairs that connects the street with Dettori square.