Perched on a picturesque rocky spur overlooking the Soraggio Valley, the church stands at the highest point of the fortified village of Rocca Soraggio. Dating back to the late 13th century (1296–1299), it was initially dedicated to San Rocco, then to San Martino, and only recently took on its current title of Nativity of Mary.

It is also known as the Hermitage of the Holy Face because it houses a tunic-shaped crucifix (2 m high, 1.74 m arms) dating back to the 13th–14th centuries. Made of wood, papier-mâché, and canvas, its typology is inspired by the Holy Face of Lucca. The crucifix, restored in the late 1990s, is one of the oldest known wooden copies of the Holy Face. The Soraggio Face is distinguished by its refined workmanship: the face is elongated, the features are stylized yet intensely expressive, and the floor-length tunic (colobium) is sculpted with rigid yet harmonious folds. The presence of the colobium, instead of the loincloth, is another direct link to the Holy Face of Lucca.

Inside the church, a copy of the triptych of the Madonna Enthroned, created by Pietro Da Talada in 1463 and stolen in 1920, is also visible; fragments of the original are now housed in Lucca’s Villa Guinigi Museum.