Designed by baroque architect and sculptor Cosimo Fanzago, this melon-hued show off was built between 1650 and 1662. After suffering damage in an earthquake in 1688, the original brick and piperno-stone facade was altered with the addition of flouncy baroque stucco work. Construction of Via Vittorio Colonna further altered the original design, with the double-flight staircase reduced in size. Inside, a Greek-cross plan remains faithful to the original.
Fanzago also designed the statue of the church's eponymous saint on the high altar. Fellow baroque darling Luca Giordano created numerous paintings in the church, including the depictions of St Anne, the Virgin Mary and St Joachim and the Flight into Egypt in the transept.
