Situated on the banks of the Río Paraná some 30 km north of Rosario city in the province of Santa Fe is the town of San Lorenzo, one of Argentina’s most important ports. It is also where the first battle for independence took place in 1813 between revolutionaries under the command of General José de Martin and Spanish troops. The Museo Historico del Convento de San Carlos Borromeo recounts the event in detail and the room where San Martin slept forms part of the exhibition.

It was in 1720 when the Jesuits founded the Estancia San Miguel del Carcarañal close to the Río Carcarañá but when they were later expelled by the Spanish the estancia passed into the hands of Francisco de Aldao who divided it between his children, one of which donated some land to the Franciscan order, who began constructing the beginnings - convent, the church, a seminary and two schools - of San Lorenzo. Opposite the convent is the Monumento a la Batalla de San Lorenzo, and the Campo de la Gloria, where the battle was fought. The Campo and its Pino Histórico - a mediterranean pine planted by the Franciscans in 1796 - as well as the convent have all been declared Monumentos Históricos Nacionales.