Turismo Chieri » Don Bosco

Don Bosco Visitors’ Centre

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 08:51:33 +0000

A fundamental step was taken for the tourism policy of Chieri with the opening of the Don Bosco Visitors’ Centre (the San Filippo Complex, Via Vittorio Emanuele II, 63), an information centre with documents of the figure of the Saint who lived his early, formative years in Chieri. The Centre was set up with a contribution from the Regional Authority of Piedmont, is located within the building that accommodated Don Bosco as a seminarist in the 1800s and is run by the City Council with the cooperation of the Salesian Christ the King Institute.
Visits
As from January 2016, the Centre is opened exclusively for visits booked in advance.
Contacts
info@turismochieri.it

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Don Bosco Itinerary

admin — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 19:01:56 +0000

Chieri played an important role in the education of the young John Bosco, ten years of study, work and experiences, which formed this extraordinary person. The creation of a city itinerary and a visitors’ centre (in what was formerly the premises of the St. Philip Seminary) dedicated to this figure aim to be a contribution to his memory, but also, and especially, a way of continuing to pass on his most important teaching: attention to the needs of others.
The itinerary winds through the streets of the old town centre of Chieri and the information posts along the way tell of the episodes and people who played an important role in the life of the Saint. This is one way to create greater awareness of this figure, who was fundamental to Piedmont in the 1800s, but also to understand better that period of history and the context he lived in.

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Viale Fiume

admin — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 15:10:42 +0000

The inscription recalls an episode that occurred in 1835, when the young student John Bosco was challenged by a professional acrobat to four contests. The first was a race through the city; the second a long jump from one bank to another of a small stream; the third was a test of dexterity making a stick jump on the fingertips, the arm and the face, without letting it fall; the fourth was a test of climbing on an elm tree. John Bosco won each of these contests and, rather than accepting money for the bet, he had his meal paid for in a restaurant, the Albergo del Muletto.

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Piazza Cavour

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 10:00:37 +0000

The “Società dell’allegria”
The inscription refers to the club founded by John Bosco and his friends. The club rules, made up of three articles, laid down that members had to behave as good Christians, do their own school and religious work and, especially, be cheerful. Every day of rest, after college, the members went to the church of St. Anthony to attend the catechism held by the Jesuit fathers.
The Hotel, Albergo del Muletto
This building was located at the bottom of the square, Piazza San Bernardino, on Via Maestra, and belonged to Marco Balbiano from Andezeno. The premises must have been quite elegant, because in 1856 Prince Umberto and his servants stayed there. When John Bosco accepted the challenge and defeated the professional acrobat, near the Porta Torinese gate, instead of accepting the 240 lire he had won, he suggested that the loser should offer lunch in the Albergo del Muletto for himself and his twenty two college mates, which cost the acrobat only 45 lire.

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Vicolo Valimberti

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 09:57:34 +0000

The Stable of Michele Cavallo
At the beginning of the school year 1833 – 1834, Giuseppe Pianta was supposed to have accommodated John Bosco in his Cafè, but the premises were not yet finished. So, for a while, he was given shelter by the baker, Michele Cavallo, who offered him a corner of his stable located in Vicolo Valimberti on the corner with Via San Francesco (now the offices of the Tax Police), in return for the student’s help in looking after the animal and doing some small jobs in the vineyard outside of the city. In exchange, John Bosco managed to obtain some free time of Saturday evening to go to confession.
The House of the tailor, Cumino
During the next school year 1834 – 1835, John Bosco was given accommodation by Tomaso Cumino, in the building at Via Vittorio Emanuele II, 24. In this case, the young student demonstrated his ability in doing magic tricks, including relatives of his landlord as his audience, until they began to suspect that the magician had some arrangement with the devil. After some of his tricks Cumino reported him to the ecclesiastical authorities, who had him questioned by the canon, Burzio. Here, John Bosco knew how to reply perfectly to the questions about Christian doctrine and demonstrated that it was not a matter of magic, but simply sleight of hand.

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Via Palazzo di Città

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 10:02:18 +0000

The Coffee Shop, Caffè Pianta
At number 3 in Via Palazzo di Città, Giuseppe Pianta, the brother of Lucia Matta, had opened a coffee shop offering coffee and liqueurs. The bar-owner offered John Bosco a job as bar assistant in return for morning cleaning, before going to school, and help in the evening in the billiard room. He was offered food and lodging free in the room under the stairs. It was here that John Bosco met the jewish Jonah (Giacobbe Levi), a young israelite who Bosco then converted to the Christian religion.

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Via Vittorio Emanuele

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 10:04:54 +0000

The state schools
John Bosco attended the state schools of the college of Chieri from 1831 to 1835. Even though he was sixteen, he was put into the preparatory classes for the High School. The teacher, Giuseppe Cima, a severe, disciplined man, asked, on seeing such a large pupil: “Either you are a large mole or a great talent. What have you got to say?” On hearing these words, John Bosco replied: “Half and half, this is a young lad who shows willing to do his duty and get on with his studies”. The teacher liked these words and he admitted: “If you show willing, you are in good hands, I will not leave you idle. Show spirit, and if you have difficulty, tell me at once and I shall resolve it”. In January 1832 he passed into the first class of High School and by March he was already in the second, while he passed into the third class at the end of the year.

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Piazza Mazzini

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 10:06:19 +0000

The workshop of the carpenter, Barzochino
At house number 2 in Via San Giorgio, there was the carpenter’s workshop belonging to Barzochino, a family of woodworking craftsmen and artists from Fossano, who had moved to Chieri in the XVIIIth century. Here the young student, John Bosco, spent his hours free from studies amongst the planks, hammers and nails of the workshop, learning how to plane, square and saw wood and use wisely all the workman’s tools. The training in the workshop and the craftsman’s activity were to be fundamental experience for his future, when, after the priesthood, he became a promoter of the opening of technical and professional schools, to close the institutional gap left by the King of Sardinia.
The offices of the Chieri Council until 1842
On the site where St. Anna’s school now stands, there was the building which once held the offices of the City Council. Here John Bosco paid honour to the mayor and all the citizens of Chieri by giving two concerts, in which he recited poems by Dante, Monti, Parini, Petrarchus and Tasso, sang songs and performed plays. Poetry, music and theatre were always dear to Don Bosco, so much so that he considered them fundamental instruments in the method of educational training for children, which is nowadays still an integral Salesian tradition.

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Piazza Mazzini

admin — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 09:17:42 +0000

The house of Giacomo Marchisio
The building with its entrance on Via dei Mercanti number 9 (nowadays Via Carlo Alberto), the property of Giacomo Marchisio, was rented as a residence by Lucia Pianta, originally from Murialdo, as was the Bosco family. She was the widow of Matta, who gave lodgings to the student John Bosco in his years at school from 1831 to 1833. Mrs Pianta’s son, Giovanni Battista, lived in the same house and, while he was not a bad boy, he was not in the least interested in scholastic instruction. It was within these walls that John Bosco had his first experience as an educator, by giving remedial lessons to the son of his landlady and making him interested in studying. Thanks to the excellent results he achieved, John Bosco was excused from paying the rent.
The house of the Theologian, Maloria
Further to the left, there was the home of the theologian, Giuseppe Maloria, canon of the Collegiate of Chieri and John Bosco’s confessor. A mutual friendship soon arose between the two and to quote the words of Don Bosco: “He received me with great kindness whenever I went to see him. Indeed, he encouraged me to take confession and visit him more frequently. At that time it was quite rare to find someone who encouraged attendance of the Sacraments. I have my confessor to thank, if I have managed to be good.”

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Archbishops’ Seminary and Church of Saint Philip

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 10:07:58 +0000

Church of St. Philip
On 30 October 1835, John Bosco entered the seminary, at the Archbishops’ Seminary, formerly the convent of the Philippine Fathers, whose rector was the theologian Sebastiano Mottura. This is where John Bosco studied until 10 May 1841, the year in which he reluctantly discontinued his clerical career, as he himself remembered: “that separation was extremely painful, separation from a place where I had lived for six years and where I had education, science, ecclesiastical spirit and all the signs of kindness and affection that anyone could wish for”. In the night between 3 and 4 April 1839, the day of the funeral of his friend and colleague Luigi Comollo, John Bosco heard a sound coming from the corridor, a sound which approached and woke the whole roomful of people. The door was thrown open and everyone saw a multi-coloured light and heard the voice of Comollo say: “Bosco! Bosco! Bosco! I am safe!”, which was in accordance with a promise the two friends had made, namely that the first of them to die would send a message to inform the other of his safety. In the church of St. Philip, which was annexed to the seminary, John Bosco went to the clergy every day to receive Communion, while refusing to take breakfast and fasting until lunchtime.

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