The cathedral, consecrated to San Giovanni Battista, the patron saint of Turin, is the only example of Renaissance architecture of the city. It started being built in 1491.
The building underwent various rearrangements through time: in 1665 the vault of the nave was rebuilt. The most significant intervention was the insertion of the holy shroud's chapel, based on a project by Guarino Guarini, in a super elevated position, instead of the original apse, and linked to the Royal Palace, which lies behind it.
The cathedral's façade, in white marble, with tympanum and three portals decorated with relieves of elegant Renaissance shape, perhaps derives from the coeval church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome.