The corpse of Cola di Rienzo was held in the church for three days after his execution in 1354. On 22 May 1519, a fire destroyed the church. The money collected for its rebuilding was used to bribe the "landsknechts", who were pillaging the city during the Sack of Rome (1527). The original plan to rebuild the church was designed by Jacopo Sansovino, who fled the city during the Sack and never returned to finish it. The work was continued by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who rebuilt the church, but a Tiber flood damaged it again in 1530. It was only in 1692–1697 that the church was completed with a facade by Carlo Fontana, commissioned by Monsignor Marcantonio Cataldi Boncompagni. The exterior travertine statues were sculpted by Francesco Cavallini, and the stucco bas-relief over the entrance, with depicts "San Filippo Benizio", was created by Antonio Raggi. Benizio had been a member of the Servite order.