The church is located in the eponymous St. George Square in the center of the so-called Citadel.
It features a beautiful bell gable and a portal on which is engraved “SAN MICHELE ARCA(N)GELO/SOR.D.B.R.F. (A) D MDCI.”
In past centuries the church was called St. Michael the Archangel and had near it the Monastery of the Nuns of St. Clare, who moved here from that of St. John the Baptist, located on the ruins of the Shrine of Hercules the Victor.
The nuns, who had previously moved to the monastery of Santa Caterina located in Piazza Domenico Tani, were accompanied to the new convent of San Giorgio by a solemn procession led by Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este and Bishop Marcantonio Croce on October 3, 1571.
On the occasion, the Cardinal donated to the cloistered nuns a painting by Raphael representing St. Michael the Archangel; another altar in the church held a work by Perin del Vaga representing St. John the Baptist in the desert.
Also noteworthy is a 13th-century tabernacle embellished with a mosaic decoration of gold, red and green glass tesserae.
There were three feasts associated with this church: of St. Clare (founder of the Poor Clare order); St. Michael the Archangel; and St. John the Baptist.
