Before we start, it is important you do not confuse this church with that of the Gesuati, which is in Dorsoduro. In fact, to be accurate you should know that this temple in Cannaregio, which the Venetians refer to as I Gesuiti, was consecrated, in reality, with the name of Santa Maria Assunta.

Raised over an old church of the religious order of the Crociferi, this building was designed around 1715 by Domenico Rossi in a spectacular Baroque style, which finds its maximum expression in the overelaborate façade and the interior, covered in green and white marble. Particularly majestic is the baldachin over the altar, supported by ten columns and crowned by a cupola.

Its construction, which finished in 1729, was a kind of test of strength of the Jesuits, who had been expelled from the city in 1606, because of their support for Pope Paul V, who at the time had a terrible relationship with the Venetian Republic.

Despite the fact that the Society of Jesus had the support of powerful families, such as the Manin, who provided a large part of the funds to build the church, the order was once again proscribed in 1773 and its assets confiscated. In 1814, the Jesuits recovered their possessions thanks to the intervention of Pope Pious VII.

The catalogue of works of art that decorate the church is made up of several paintings by Palma the Younger, The Assumption of the Virgin, by Tintoretto, and the altarpiece by Titian called The martyrdom of Saint Lawrence.