The new church of S. Spiridione rises in the same place of the ancient and homonymous eighteenth-century temple built by the "Greek nation" - then including also the "Illyrians" - that had to be demolished in 1861. The Community, wishing to build a particularly important temple, launched a public competition as early as September 1858, to which the most renowned architects of Vienna, Venice, Milan, Munich, Rome, Florence and Petrograd were invited. projects no later than March 31, 1859, as reported by the "Trieste Observer". The choice of the project was entrusted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice.