San Francesco d'Assisi, Turin, Baroque church in central Turin, Italy

San Francesco d'Assisi is a Baroque church in central Turin, equipped with marble altars and elaborate decorations throughout its interior. A large oval window above the entrance portal and pinnacles on the roofline define the building's external appearance.

The church traces its origins to a 13th-century structure that underwent major reconstruction around 1608. The current building was completed in 1761 following designs by Bernardo Antonio Vittone and Mario Ludovico Quarini.

The sacristy recalls the meeting between Don Bosco and Bartolomeo Garelli, a young bricklayer, which tradition places in 1841 and marks the start of the Salesian oratory. The chapel of Sant'Anna, built in 1637, holds a late-Baroque stucco decoration and an altarpiece of the Madonna and Child with Saint Anne attributed to Federico Zuccari.

The church stands on Via San Francesco d'Assisi, the stretch between Via Garibaldi and Via Monte di Pietà, a short walk from Turin's central squares. San Rocco church is on the same street, so both can be visited together. The entrance is on the street front, under the 1761 façade with its oval window.

The sacristy commemorates the meeting between Don Bosco and Bartolomeo Garelli, a young bricklayer he met there in 1841, an episode regarded as the start of Don Bosco's work with poor youths. The church also suffered minor damage in the bombardments of 13 July 1943.