Pope Innocent X, whose family palace stands next to it, commissioned the church on Piazza Navona as a family chapel. Girolamo Rainaldi and his son Carlo made the first designs in 1652. Francesco Borromini replaced them in 1653 and resigned in 1657, and Carlo Rainaldi was then reappointed.
The plan is a Greek cross with a near-circular interior. Borromini moved the columns toward the edges of the dome piers to give the pendentives a broad base. The facade was reoriented to face Piazza Navona, and Bernini designed the pediment above the entrance.
The dome is frescoed with the Apotheosis of Saint Agnes, begun by Ciro Ferri in 1670 and finished by Sebastiano Corbellini after Ferri's death in 1689. Agnes is said to have been martyred on the site, in the ancient Stadium of Domitian. The infobox gives a 12th-century foundation and a completion in 1859.
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