This medieval church occupies the ancient site of three Roman temples of the Republican era. These temples were eventually converted into a prison (called carcere, which means prison). The temples were those of Spes, Juno, and Janus, and they faced one of Rome's gates that led from the Forum Holitorium (the City's vegetable and oil market) down to the port which was on the Tiber. There are columns embedded in the walls of the church that belonged to two side-by-side temples whose platforms are now marked by grass lawns. In 1599, the church was rebuilt, and restored again in the 19th century, but the bell-tower is part of the original church. You can see that the bell-tower and the facade of the church do not go together because of the different styles of architecture.