The existence in Borgo Panica of a chapel dedicated to San Rocco is documented since 1410. The Dominican Fathers settled in this place at the beginning of the sixteenth century and built the convent and enlarged the chapel transforming it into a church with three naves. They built the bell tower, which was the subject of subsequent interventions until it assumed the current and unique configuration of the bell tower that rises from the roof of the church. The two cloisters of the convent complex are of great interest. The church has seven altars inside and of great artistic interest are the altar frontages by Natale Bianchini (1653-1729) and the altars of St. Dominic and the Guardian Angel (or the death of St. Joseph) by Antonio Bianchi (sec. XVII).
It was thanks to the Dominican Fathers that the first public school was established in Marostica. Since their arrival in 1553 they dedicated themselves to teaching catechism and to organizing a school open to boys and girls entrusted to lay teachers. The Republic of Venice, in fact, did not undertake a serious school policy for the mainland, where primary education was entrusted mostly to ecclesiastical educators and private teachers.
In 1770 the Venetian government suppressed the convent and the Dominican fathers left Marostica. It was possible, also thanks to the bequest of the Latinist Natale Dalle Laste, to keep two public schools open (another fifteen schools were active at that time but they were private). On 11 May 1771 the hospital of Marostica of Borgo Giara, run by the Augustinian nuns, was transferred to the premises of the Convent.
