According to Mercati, the foundation of the church, by the Countess Matilda of Canossa, took place between 1076 and 1092 with consecration in 1102/1106 and construction of the monastery in a period before 1101 (1). Already in 1143 it had a consolidated order including assets to Levizzano, Tregaso, Trignano, Rivalta, Saltino, Cassola, Polinago, Palagano, Riccovolto, Rubbiano, Monte Stefano, Guiliga, Bebbio, S. Cassiano and Debbia (2). Starting from the Pastoral Visits at the end of the sixteenth century we find several indications on the condition of the complex. The need for repairs to the roof or to whiten its walls is often emphasized, so in the visits of 1563 and 1594 (3).The inspection of Cardinal Rinaldo d'Este in 1652 indicates large cracks, the sacristy in poor condition and narrow in addition to the feedback of cracked walls (4). Still the Marliani (1664) arranges the remaking of the roof. The relief that he handed down shows how, already, had intervened on the smaller apses replacing them with a straight wall (5). The description of Bishop Picenardi in 1709 shows the church consisting of "three naves, of ancient structure, built with parallelepiped stones well polished, partly face in part with tiles, discovered" (6).Between 1736 and 1738 work began on the arrangement which, badly directed, caused serious damage to the walls and face. The church was subsequently restored in 1747-1745 under the direction of the master builder sig. Bernardo Pignedoli of Reggio with a baroque transformation. The result was a Latin cross church, with a dome, side chapels with a single nave, paved with new and brick face (7). Minor restoration works were carried out in 1874 and at the end of the same century (8). In 1955 with the technical assistance of geom. Gianni Baldini started a reconstruction project aimed at restoring the complex to its primitive structure and consolidating the surviving parts of the ancient facade and apse (9).At the monastery was once attached a hospital for pilgrims. In a charter of 1176 it reads "actum ad Monasterium da Maraula sub porticu hospitalis"; at the beginning of the thirteenth century. was enlarged distinguishing a new hospital and an old hospital (10). The convent was soon abandoned by monastic life and largely unused. In 1631 the "palace" was level to the Fontanelli family feudatories of Marola and S. Donnino. The Count Giulio arranged to transform it into a civil residence by milking it of "four torrioncelli ossiano gharetti (... ), in face to the street opened another door decorated as the other (... )" and arranging a princely garden within the enclosure (11). The Fontanelli were followed by the Amorotti and the Sabbatini.At the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was the level of the Moretti family who then ceded their rights to the Intendenza per i Beni Camerali of Modena in 1824. In the same year a special Decree of the Duke established the Seminary (12). In 1921 the building was enlarged with the elevation of the front body and the central junction. The church is oriented liturgically. It has a gabled facade with a round portal, splayed and dominated by a two-pitched roof; at the center of the facade opens a mullioned window. It is also highlighted in the apse decoration of the crown arches. The building develops an "H" plan on three levels with two internal cloisters. In the one placed next to the church there is a portico with seven architravate lights.On the outside there are the circular towers on the eastern façade and extensive traces of the ancient wall. In 1955 the church underwent a radical restoration that returned a Romanesque image