The three-aisled building, with seven arches on pillars and five side altars (of which only two survive today), is traditionally attributed to the workshop of Biagio Rossetti, the architect behind the famous Herculean Addition.

Built at the behest of Sigismondo, brother of Duke Ercole I d’Este, starting in 1501, it was completed on March 18, 1516, when an ancient image of the Madonna preserved in a small oratory was processionally transferred here dating back to 1189.

The grandiose fresco with The Coronation of the Virgin, more than 350 square meters of wall decoration, recently attributed to Geminiano Benzoni and an anonymous collaborator but still the subject of scholarly debate, can also be dated to the early years after its construction.

From 1528 the church was flanked by a convent entrusted to the congregation of the Servites of the Observance, who from 1781, thanks to a brief by Pope Pius VI, also housed a shelter for the exposed. Dopo vari passaggi di proprietà, trasformazioni, soppressioni e restauri, il complesso entered to become part of municipal property in 1883, now devoid of its original furnishings and works. Only a few canvases remain today, recently relocated here, thanks to a deposit from the Province of Ferrara, which owns the works.