The oratory is located inside what was once the municipal palace, with access from the public lodge. It was built by municipal resolution in 1508 following the salvation of the city from plague in 1502. Indeed, the sacred building was dedicated to San Sebastian, the protector against this terrible disease.
In 1762 the oratory was given over to the confraternity of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows. The interior is decorated with a mural by Maurizio Carrega (1737 – post 1819), followed in 1855 and 1860, by paintings depicting the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin, by Luigi Varese (1825-1889).
Near one entrance there is a fake plaque from 1642 asking the people not to urinate or soil the area beneath the entrance, a habit of the citizens of Sanremo out of contempt for the Genoese authorities.