A medieval church dedicated to San Biagio in Finalborgo is documented for the first time in 1261 when Giacomo Del Carretto let the men of Rialto use the woods on the Melogno slopes. Fifty years later, in the medieval statutes of Finale of 1311, the punishments were dediced for who had gambled or acted inappropriately in the church and in the close by cemetery.

This first religious building with a hospital annexed was positioned on the eastern side of the Aquila torrent, outwith the walls of the town of Borgo of Finale and therefore was called San Biagio extra-muros.

In 1372 the community of the Borgo approved the transfer of the church within the town walls. The new church, with the construction finishing practically in 1375, rose close to the bridge, close to the walls, in correspondence to the entrance of the Borgo.

After the radical 17^th century reconstruction of the medieval church there is only the polygonal apse, that protrudes from the town walls of Borgo, and also there still is the splendid bell tower that was built around 1463 on a semicircular tower.

In 1571 the church was plundered by German soldiers sent by the Emperor to avoid the Genoese occupation of the Finalese marquisate.

After the passage of Finale to Spain in 1602 the general Council of the Community of Borgo decided to build a new and grand basilica. The building of the baroque church started in 1643, with the project of the finalese architect Andrea Storace, was finished only in 1659 and consecrated in 1690.

The new basilica was set up with three naves with large pillars and presented a Latin cross plan with a cupola at the crossing of the transept.

In later years the church was enriched by altars set on the sides of the transept and on the flanks of the lateral naves. The white marble pulpit is dated to 1765, an original work of the Genoese sculptor Pasquale Bocciardo, while his son Girolamo Bocciardo made the splendid balustrade with angels that hold the eucharistic cloth and, in collaboration with Andrea Casareggio the main altar.

After the definitive suppression in 1864 of the Dominican church of Santa Caterina in Finalborgo the marble alters and prestigious paintings were removed from the church and taken to San Biagio.

Also the marble mausoleum of the last marquis Sforza Andrea Del Carretto, made in 1604 by Battista Orsolino for the presbytery of the Dominican church, was taken and set on the external counter-façade of the church.

In this way the basilica of San Biagio became a beautiful church, that has few comparions for the richness of its altars and for the high quality of paintings it preserves.

The frescos inside the cupola, the vault of the nave and the presbytery were made by various artists between 1870 and 1911.

For the description of the single works of art see the specific fact sheets in the ART section.