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Detail of Bernini's 'Ecstasy of St Teresa' showing the angel wounding her with the arrow of divine love.

Detail of the coffered concrete dome of the Pantheon in Rome.

Today is the feast of St John Bosco, who was born in Piedmont of a peasant family, and he was brought up by his widowed mother. He became a priest, and his particular concern was for the young. He settled in Turin, where, as in so many cities in the 19th century, the industrial revolution was bringing enormous movements of population and consequent social problems, especially for the young men who came there to work.

John Bosco devoted himself to the care of the young, first of all by means of evening classes, to which hundreds came, and then by setting up a boarding-house for apprentices, and then workshops for their training and education. Despite many difficulties, caused both by the anti-clerical civil authorities and by the opposition of some senior people within the Church, his enterprise grew, and by 1868 over 800 boys and young men were under his care.

To ensure the continuation of his work, he founded a congregation, which he named after St Francis de Sales (a saint for whom he had great admiration), and today the Salesians continue his work all over the world. This statue of the saint is from the chapel of the Salesianum in Rome.

The Dominican priory and church of San Esteban was built between the 16th and the 17th centuries. The facade of the church with its great arch framing the sculptures of various Dominican saints, and tableaux of the crucifixion of the Lord, and the martyrdom of St Stephen, are by Juan Antonio Ceroni. It was completed in 1610.

The elegant Renaissance loggia which forms the entrance porch to the priory itself was constructed by Juan Ribero de Rada between 1590 - 1592.

The beautiful Plaza Mayor of Salamanca, regarded by many as the finest in Spain, is deserted in the afternoon as many take refuge from the summer heat and enjoy a siesta.