San Donato (Turin)
San Donato is a neighborhood of Turin west of the city centre, beyond Corso Principe Oddone, crossed by the Dora Riparia; it is part of Circoscrizione 4 San Donato - Campidoglio - Parella, established in 1983, which covers just over nine square kilometres between Corso Francia and Corso Regina Margherita and in 2005 had nearly 95,000 inhabitants.[1][2]
Origins
The earliest historical traces date back to 1536, when French troops devastated the settlement and destroyed the small church dedicated to San Donato.[1][2] Via San Donato has borne this name since 1835; before that it was called Via del Martinetto, after the borgo of the trip-hammers, the «martinetti», powered by water from the Canale della Pellerina.[1] Until the mid-nineteenth century, fields irrigated by the bealere covered the entire area west of Porta Susa, and mills provided power to the first industries; immigrants arriving from Piedmont brought the population to 5,200 inhabitants in 1862.[1]
The chocolate quarter
In 1826 Pier Paul Caffarel modernised a chocolate workshop on Via Carena, and in 1850 Michele Talmone opened a plant for processing cocoa on Via Balbis; Bosio and Caratsch founded the first brewery there.[1] The Talmone factory, expanded in 1895 and redesigned in art nouveau style in 1904, moved to Corso Francia in 1924 and became part of Venchi Unica; the building on Via Balbis now houses apartments.[3] In the early twentieth century the canal began to be covered over, and with the arrival of electric power, entrepreneurs moved elsewhere.[1]
The churches
The parish of the Immaculate Conception and San Donato was established on 6 January 1855, probably the first in the world dedicated to the Immaculate Conception after the proclamation of the dogma; the church at Via San Donato 21 opened on 3 April 1869 and its façade was completed in 1906.[4] In the borgo stands the complex founded by Francesco Faà di Bruno, including the church of Santa Zita, whose bell tower is the third tallest point in the city after the Mole and the Torre Littoria.[5][6] The neighborhood also features Art Nouveau villas on Via Piffetti and Via Cibrario.[1]
Basso San Donato
Basso San Donato, between Corso Regina Margherita, the Dora, Corso Umbria and the railway yard, originally formed part of the Valdocco district; its houses were known in dialect as «le ca nèire», the black houses, and the first community hub was the church of the Stigmata of San Francesco, built in 1927.[7] In the spring of 2026 an association of shopkeepers along the Via Livorno–Corso Umbria axis was founded there.[8] The neighborhood house «+SpazioQuattro», at Via Saccarelli 18, occupies a building that once served as a wash house, public baths and civic centre.[9]
Related articles: Campidoglio (Turin), Francesco Faà di Bruno
Pages linking here
- Campidoglio (Turin)
- Cinema Statuto fire
- Controlli antievasione e di sicurezza sui mezzi pubblici di Torino (settembre 2026)
- Dora Riparia
- Environment Park
- Extension of Gtt's Safe Tram and Safe Bus Service to Daytime Hours
- Francesco Faà di Bruno
- Gathering of the 1st Alpini Grouping in Pinerolo
- Gruppo Torinese Trasporti
- Pinerolo