This site has been a place of worship since at least the 3rd century, when Christians gathered here in the home of a Roman named Equitius. In the 4th century, after Christianity was legalized, a church was built on the site and was later rebuilt in the 6th and 9th centuries. It took its current form in the 1650s, when it was renovated by artist Filippo Gagliardi.
The church is of particular interest for Gagliardi’s frescoes showing the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano before it was rebuilt in the mid-17th century and St Peter’s Basilica before it assumed its present form. Remnants of the more distant past include the ancient Corinthian columns dividing the nave and aisles.