An ancient castle built in the fourteenth century between 1395 and 1406, the church is located specifically on the ruins of the church of Santa Maria on the top of a hill in the city of La Spezia. The castle was converted into a palace in 1459 and commissioned by Luca Fancelli. The uses of the castle differed greatly after that, as in 1810 the Tyrolean fighter Andreas Hofer was imprisoned in the castle before his execution by the Kingdom of Italy, it also became part of the Austrian Empire in 1814, and was a prison for political opponents of the empire in 1815 AD. The castle preserves many ancient archaeological sculptures and statues that attract tourists to see them.