In 1582 the civic Senate of Caltagirone handed to the Order of Minims a small church then dedicated to Saint Anthony the Abbot, built in the late sixteenth century along the via Carolina, today via Roma, and attached to a convent of Dominican friars. The Minims enlarged the old building and rededicated it to their own founder, Francis of Paola, giving rise to the church that still bears his name.
Its story follows via Roma, one of the old spines of the town. On 12 December 1926 the archbishop of Syracuse and apostolic administrator of Caltagirone, Monsignor Giacomo Carabelli, raised it to the rank of venerable parish church, a recognition that fixed its place in the religious life of the city.