San Giovanni Bosco church, Catholic church in Milan, Italy

The church of San Giovanni Bosco stands in a narrow space between tall residential buildings in the Sellanuova district of Baggio. Its facade is a bare wall with the entrance portal, preceded by two large concrete panels decorated with abstract reliefs by sculptor Carlo Ramous. These panels screen the building, which is topped by a parabolic roof. Inside, the rectangular plan is bright and defined by that roof, whose shape suggests a large tent.

In 1965 Archbishop Giovanni Colombo created the parish for the new Sellanuova district, taking territory from Sant'Apollinare and Madonna dei Poveri and naming it after John Bosco in honour of his own cardinal appointment that year. Construction of the church, designed by Mario Tedeschi with the artist Carlo Ramous, began in 1966 and ended in 1967. The two had already worked together on Santa Marcellina alla Cagnola a decade earlier.

The parish was named after Saint John Bosco in 1965 to honour Archbishop Giovanni Colombo, who received the cardinal's title that same year. The church, built for the Sellanuova district along the road to Baggio, still serves the neighbourhood's Catholic community.

The church sits in a narrow gap between tall residential blocks in the Sellanuova quarter of Baggio, in western Milan. It can be reached on foot in about ten minutes from the Gambara stop on metro line 1, or by bus lines 49 and 58 alighting at Via Lorenteggio - Via Novara, a few steps away. The entrance is set behind two concrete relief panels, so the doorway is easy to miss from the street.

The two concrete panels in front of the facade, with abstract reliefs by sculptor Carlo Ramous, hide the church from the street; only the parabolic roof shows above them. Tedeschi and Ramous had already worked together a decade earlier on the church of Santa Marcellina alla Cagnola.