The church is located in the historic center of Nardò, behind Salandra square. A prodigious event was involved in its construction: the Virgin Mother of the Rose, depicted in an icon on a wall of an ancient ruined chapel, spoke to a local girl complaining about the neglect in which her image was kept. The idea was to build a church to house the icon, which was completed and opened for worship in 1611.

The growing influx of faithful forced the building to be extended (in 1620) to its current form. The building is a work of the architect Giovanni Maria Tarantino. It has a single decorated entrance, surmounted by a large window. Inside, the single nave is marked by pointed arches. The altar made in Leccese lime stone contains an ancient icon of the Madonna.

The church was decorated with murals of which few traces remain. It has a bell tower. After the 1743 earthquake, the Church hosted the Confraternity of St Joseph for a long time (the church of St Joseph suffered a great deal of damage). After the Unification of Italy it was abandoned and in 1982 it was donated to the Diocese (which provided for its restoration).