Giacomo della Porta designed Santa Maria ai Monti in Rome, and Carlo Lombardi and Flaminio Ponzio continued the work. Pope Gregory XIII sponsored the construction after a fifteenth-century fresco of the Virgin and Child with Saints Lawrence and Stephen was uncovered at the site in 1580. The church was consecrated and completed that same year.
The facade has two rows of Corinthian pilasters joined by volutes, with a dedicatory inscription and votive niches above the door. The dome has eight sections showing scenes from the life of the Virgin, with frescoes of the four Evangelists. The article describes the style as Baroque.
Benedict Joseph Labre collapsed at the church in 1783 and was later buried in the north transept. It is now a parish church and a cardinalatial titular church, and the icon is displayed over the high altar.
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