This church was built in the 16th century. It served as a chapel at a hospital for men, and it was named after San Rocco, the patron saint of plague sufferers (this terrible disease claimed thousands of lives in those days).

Later, a ward for women was added to the hospital. It was mainly the wives of boatmen, as well as single mothers, who were treated there. Many were allowed to stay in the hospital secretly - they could hide their faces with scarves. If an illegitimate child was born here, the baby was sent to an orphanage.

In the 1930s, when excavations of the Mausoleum of Octavian Augustus were underway, the hospital was destroyed. But the church, fortunately, was not damaged. Inside, an old altarpiece by an unknown artist has been preserved.

The architect Giuseppe Valadier worked on the church facade; he is also known as the author of the design for Piazza del Popolo. The work was carried out in 1832, and since then the building's exterior has taken on features of the Neoclassical style. Majestic columns stand on both sides of the central entrance, and angels, kneeling on one knee, stand on the roof. A small bell tower can be seen a little farther away.