Sacra di San Michele

The Sacra di San Michele is the symbolic monument of the Piedmont region, a medieval Benedictine abbey perched dramatically on the rocky summit of Monte Pirchiriano at the mouth of the Val di Susa, roughly 40 kilometres west of Turin. Founded around the end of the tenth century, it became an important stop on the Via Francigena pilgrimage route and is part of a chain of monasteries dedicated to Saint Michael that stretches from Mont-Saint-Michel in France to Monte Sant'Angelo in Puglia. It is also widely cited as an inspiration for Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose. Visitors approach up a long ramp and then the atmospheric Scalone dei Morti, the Stairway of the Dead, carved into the living rock, before passing through the carved Romanesque Porta dello Zodiaco into the Romanesque-Gothic church built directly over the mountain peak. Inside are frescoes, the Savoy tombs and a terrace offering a vast panorama across the Susa valley, the surrounding peaks and, on a clear day, the plain stretching toward Turin. A visit usually takes an hour and a half to two hours including the climb, and the abbey is at its most photogenic in clear morning or late-afternoon light when the building stands silhouetted against the mountains. The site is busiest on summer weekends; spring and autumn weekdays are quieter and the temperatures kinder for the steep approach. Reaching it involves a hike up a steep footpath from the village of Sant'Ambrogio for the energetic, or a drive to the upper car park followed by a short final climb on foot. Sturdy shoes are advisable, and the exposed summit can be cold and windy even in summer, so a layer is worth carrying.