The church, that was first consecrated to San Zeno, then to San Valentino and finally to San Francesco, was part – together with the church devoted to San Michele – of the churches of the Bastia, when, in 1596, the Municipality decided to give it to the padri zoccolanti (friars with clogs) of the order of San Francesco. Close to the church, the friars built the convent that was completed in 1624. The friars had to leave the church and the convent due to the decree for the abolition of every religious order, wanted by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1805.
The reopening of the church occurred thanks to the missionary order of the Redentoristi who occupied the religious house attached to the Sanctuary where there is the miraculous image of the Madonna del Perpetuo Soccorso. This venerated painting is situated in a chapel enriched by marbles and ornaments, on the left of the main altar.
The church rebuilt in 1731 and restored in a modern way between 1962 and 1965, consists of three aisles and recalls the Redeemer’s church of San Gioacchino in Rome for the use of precious marbles in the columns and in the two altars. The main altar is still that of the 17th century. On the right, there is the altar of the Madonna del Perpetuo Soccorso that represents the devotional centre of the sanctuary. On the left, at the end of the southern aisle, there is the altar of San Gerardo.
Inside the church, ancient paintings can be admired. Among these, the painting of San Francesco receiving the stigmata, dated 1779 and realized by the friar Felice Cignaroli, brother of the more celebrated Giambettino. Dated 1779, the great shovel over the main altar portraying the ecstasy of San Francesco is attributed to Santo Prunati..