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Who could live in Turin and not be influenced by the Salesians? Their founder, Saint John Bosco ("Don Bosco"), died in 1888, but the community was alive and well and continuing the work of serving the poor and the troubled youth of Turin throughout Pier Giorgio's lifetime - and continues to do so in the present age.
As a boy, Pier Giorgio took preparatory exams at the Salesian Institute “Collegio Don Bosco” in Alassio. As a young man, he visited the poor regularly in the area of Turin very near the shrine built by Don Bosco and probably prayed there often. In a letter to one of his friends he wrote, "I recommend that you prepare a wonderful evening like the one we had with the Germans and Poles who came to Turin for the convention of the former students of Don Bosco."
Pier Giorgio was privately tutored in Latin by Father Cojazzi, a Salesian priest. This came about after Mr. Frassati defending the Salesian Fathers in his newspaper La Stampa at a time when they were being greatly criticized. The Father General of the Salesians personally visited Mr. Frassati to thank him and asked if he could do anything in return. That is when Mr. Frassati asked about the possibility of one of the Salesians helping his son with his Latin studies. Father Cojazzi later became the first biographer of Pier Giorgio after his death. He worked closely with Mrs. Frassati for many years.
As the Jesuit Fathers influenced his Eucharistic life, the Salesians definitely influenced his spiritual progress through the Sacrament of Penance. One of the Salesian Fathers, Father Felice Cane, was Pier Giorgio's confessor from the time he was 14 until his death. (He also went to confession to other priests, of course, as circumstances would necessitate.) "Pier Giorgio left me with a profound impression of his sanctity and purity. ... I was the one who brought the news of his death to Cardinal Gamba in July of 1925. Here is what the Cardinal said when he heard the sad news: 'A saint has died.'"
A beautiful mosaic on the wall of the Frassati family's parish church features Don Bosco with Pier Giorgio at his side - a wonderful reminder of the Salesian influence in Pier Giorgio's life and a fitting tribute to two of the holiest men who ever walked the streets of Turin.