The site was likely settled after Classe was devastated in 574, and monks of the missionary Columbanus are said to have founded it. The first report of a Benedictine abbey dates to 874, and the abbey church was consecrated in 1026. The church of Santa Maria began in the 7th to 9th centuries and reached its present form in the 11th. It is a triple-nave basilica in Ravennan Romanesque style, with arcaded aisles and a 12th-century Cosmatesque floor.
The campanile, a free-standing Romanesque tower 157 feet (48 m) tall, was begun in 1063. Mazulo, an architect trained at Ravenna, is credited with the Palazzo della Ragione of the mid-11th century. Vitale da Bologna and assistants painted the apse frescoes.
Coastal retreat and malaria led to decline from the 14th century. The monks left in 1650, and the Italian government acquired the abbey in the 19th century.
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