San Domenico is a Gothic-style,

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church and convent located on Via San Domenico #1 in the town of

Chieri Chieri (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont (Italy), located about southeast of Turin, by rail and by road. It borders the following municipalities: Baldissero Torinese, Pavarolo, Montaldo Torinese, Pino ...

Province of Turin The province of Turin (; ; ) was a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Turin. The province existed until 31 December 2014, when it was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Turin. Geography It ...

, region of

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, Italy.

History

Initially, the

Dominicans Dominicans () also known as Quisqueyans () are an ethnic group, ethno-nationality, national people, a people of shared ancestry and culture, who have ancestral roots in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican ethnic group was born out of a fusio ...

had been welcomed at the end of the 13th-century to Chieri by the Broglia family. Construction of the church and convent began in the 14th-century, and over the next hundred years, chapels for wealthy families were added to the temple. The lateral windows have an organic rounded shape but the walls contain protruding pilasters that buttress the walls and facade; each pilaster ends in a spire. The interior columns have bicoloured horizontal striations. On the lateral walls of the choir, above the wooden stalls, are two large canvases depicting the ''Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes'' and a ''Resurrection of Lazarus'' by

Guglielmo Caccia Guglielmo Caccia called il Moncalvo (9 May 15681625) was an Italian painter of sacred subjects in a Mannerist style. Biography He was born in Montabone near Acqui. He is said to have been a pupil of Lorenzo Sabbatini. He started painting in Mi ...

. The Chapel of the Rosary contains a canvas with the ''Virgin and Child'' and the ''Story of the Rosary'' also by il Moncalvo. The first chapel on the left houses copies of a ''Deposition'' by

Gaudenzio Ferrari Gaudenzio Ferrari ( – 11 January 1546) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the Renaissance. Biography Gaudenzio was born to Franchino Ferrari at Valduggia in Valsesia in the Duchy of Milan. Valduggia is now in the province of Vercelli in P ...

and of a painting by

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as (il) Guercino (), was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous n ...

. The original of the latter is housed in the church of San Domenico, Turin. The Dominican order still presides over the convent and church. A priest ordinated in this church,

Giuseppe Girotti Giuseppe Girotti, OP (19 July 1905 – 1 April 1945) was an Italian Dominican priest who was a biblical scholar and a professor of theology. During World War II, he worked to aid Jewish people amid the Nazi Holocaust. Girotti was arrested in ...

, died at Dachau on April 1, 1945, he was beatified at Alba in April 2014. A statue in his honor has been placed in the church.Convent of San Domenico
information on Giuseppe Girotti.

References

Roman Catholic churches in Chieri 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Gothic architecture in Piedmont {{Piedmont-RC-church-stub