Sacra di San Michele

Benedictine Abbey Founded Around 983 On Mount Pirchiriano Above The Susa Valley, On The Archangel Pilgrim Line Between Mont Saint Michel And Monte Sant'Angelo, And The Symbolic Monument Of Piedmont · Sant Ambrogio di Torino, Piedmont

An abbey built on the summit of a rock above the Susa valley, on the pilgrim road between Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy and Monte Sant'Angelo in Puglia, all three dedicated to the same archangel and roughly in a line. It went up from about 983 and grew until the church itself stands on foundations that rise nearly thirty metres off the bare rock, so from the valley the building and the mountain read as one thing. You reach the church up the Scalone dei Morti, a vaulted staircase cut through that substructure with tombs in its walls, and come out through a Romanesque doorway carved with the signs of the zodiac. From the terrace the whole Susa valley runs west towards France and Turin sits out on the plain to the east. It is the symbolic monument of Piedmont by regional law, it was the model for the abbey in The Name of the Rose, and it is about forty minutes from Turin with no public transport to the top.

Via alla Sacra 14, Sant Ambrogio di Torino, Piedmont, 10057, Italy

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The structure: open most days with a weekly closing day, from mid-morning to late afternoon, with a MIDDAY CLOSURE in some seasons and noticeably shorter winter hours, last admission before closing. It closes during services and in severe weather. The approach road and car park are daylight-only in practice. Evening concerts and special openings run through the summer on their own calendar. Confirm the day, the hours and the summit weather before driving up.

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