During the XV century, the numerous populations that were fixed in the Capital were installed, in the walls exterior, forming successive suburbs. The peephole of S. Roque and Duque, situated respectively in the North and South of Portas de Santa Catarina, premised a fasted and functional liaison between the urban and rural parts of the neighborhood.
Two small chapels were constructed to help the devote population: Ermida de S. Roque that appear in 1506 in the North exterior of the wall; and Ermida de Sto. António, in the South, that was selected by the Capital Italians to found their own parish, in 1521.
Loreto’s parish had a different structure from the others, because it hadn’t a territory and aggregated just their own people (the Catholic Italian foreigners that live inside or outside this area. Later, the doors became opened to the Portuguese too.

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