According to tradition, the church was built to commemorate the passage of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153) who arrived in Garda from Manerba on the opposite shore of the lake.
The building was extended in length and the façade was rebuilt in its current form in 1872. The first restoration of the building dates back to 1954, followed between 2012 and 2013 by a static consolidation and restoration of the roof.
The eighteenth-century altar is surmounted by the altarpiece depicting Saint Bernard by the painter Gerolamo Battei.
Liturgical functions are held only on the day of Saint Bernard, August 20.