The construction of the church began in 1608 with funds from Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of the then Pope Paul V. The design was initially entrusted to the famous Carlo Maderno, but after a few years the works were halted in a rut. They were once again taken up twenty years later, but the design was completed by another architect valued by the Borghese family – Giovanni Battista Soria. The construction was completed in 1641, while the façade itself much, much later (after 1655), which is testified to by the heraldic emblems of Pope Alexander VII (six mountains and an eight-pointed star) placed on the balustrade of the portico. The picturesque double steps leading to the church were not completed until the XX century more out of necessity than for decoration, due to the construction of via Nazionale and a general lowering of the area. During that time the square (Piazza Magnanapoli) where the church initially stood, was damaged. At that time between the two rows of steps the Crypt of the Fallen was built, devoted to Italian soldiers killed during the last two world wars.

The interior, as was often the case with churches from that time, is single-nave with chapels opening to the inside – three on each side. Their decoration as well as all of the furnishing comes mainly from the XVII and XVIII centuries. The eyes of the onlooker, are directed towards the main altar, as soon as he crosses the threshold of the church, where there is a relief made in marble and stucco The Ecstasy of St. Catherine of Siena. It is not difficult to notice the similarities with another ecstasy (The Ecstasy of St. Theresa) from the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, the outstanding work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. This one here depicting St. Catherine of Siena, was created around the year 1667, meaning twenty years after Bernini’s sculpture was created, by his apprentice - Melchiorre Caffa  and it is less artful in its selection of artistic means than the original, but by no means is it bad. On the sides of the altar, we can see two other scenes, also made in stucco by another skillful imitator of Bernini, this time from the XVIII century - Pietro Bracci. They depict to saints – Rose of Lima and Agnes of Montepulciano.

Decorations of the ceiling add further subtlety and lightness to the interior covered in colorful marble, as with delicate stucco ornaments they open up towards the central painting showing The Glory of St. Catherine (1713), created by Luigi Garzi in a typical for rococo pastel, luminous color scheme.

• It is also worth seeing – in the third chapel on the left – the tombstone busts completed by the talented sculptor Giuliano Finelli, depicting the married couple of Virginia and Giuseppe Bonanni (1648). They are adoring on both sides an interesting painting of a late-Baroque painter, but most importantly the biographer of the then artists – Giovanni Battista Passeri, showing Madonna del Rosario (of the Rosary) and being probably one of the best of his works.
• We will once again come face to face with this painter on the opposite side of the church. In the Chapel of the Three Archangels (second on the right) we will notice a rare motif – the meeting of the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, who on Passeri’s painting seem to be posing for a photograph together.

• Finishing off the sightseeing, we can also see (in the first chapel on the right) an equally rare motif – The Communion of St. Mary Magdalene by Benedetto Luti, a XVII century painter, one of the first to create the fashionable pastels. In this painting the painter’s love for gentle rococo tones and pastel colors can be fully seen.