Description of the attraction
The Sacra di San Michele, sometimes called the Abbey of San Michele, is a religious complex erected on Monte Pirkiriano at the entrance to the Val di Susa. The complex is located in the commune of Sant Ambrogio di Torino and belongs to the Diocese of Susa. For many years, the Sacra di San Michele, towering majestically over the villages of Avigliana and Chiusa di San Michele, has been considered a symbol of the Italian region of Piedmont.
According to some historical documents, in the era of Ancient Rome, on the site of the present abbey, there was a military bastion that controlled the main road that connected Italy with France. Later, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Lombards built a fortress here, designed to protect these lands from the invasion of the Franks.
Very little is known about the early years of the Sacra di San Michele. The earliest evidence comes from a certain monk, William, who lived in the abbey at the end of the 11th century and wrote a treatise on its history. William writes that the abbey was founded in 966, but in the same treatise he also mentions another date - the reign of Pope Sylvester II (999-1003). It is well known that the part of San Michele, which today serves as a crypt, was built at the end of the 10th century - this is confirmed by niches, columns and arches made in the Byzantine style. According to legend, this building was erected by the hermit Giovanni Vincenzo, to whom the Archangel Michael appeared. The same legend says that the materials for the construction of the crypt, collected by the hermit, miraculously ended up on the top of the mountain overnight.
In subsequent years, another small building was added to the crypt, which could accommodate monks and wanderers. Later, the abbey became the property of the Benedictine order and began to develop actively - detached buildings were built to receive wandering pilgrims and a church, possibly on the site of the ancient Roman kastrum (the very military bastion). In the 12th century, at the initiative of Abbot Ermengardo, a huge, 26 meters high, foundation was laid from the base of the hill to its top, on which a new church, which exists to this day, and other buildings, were laid.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the Sacra di San Michele began to decline, and in 1622 it was abolished by order of Pope Gregory XV. Until 1835, the abbey was abandoned, when King Carl Albert turned to the priest and philosopher Antonio Rosmini with a request to restore it and turn it back into a monastery. And today the Sacra di San Michele belongs to the Rosminian order.
The abbey church, the construction of which lasted for several years, attracts attention by the unusual location of the facade, which is located at a level lower than the interior of the temple. The 41-meter-high façade leads to the "Staircase of the Dead" - Scalone del Morty, framed by arches, niches and graves, in which, until recently, the skeletons of the deceased monks could be seen. At the very top of the staircase is the Porta dello Zodiac, a masterpiece of 12th century sculpture. The church itself can be accessed through a Romanesque portal made at the beginning of the 11th century from gray and green stone. Elements of both Gothic and Romanesque styles are visible inside the temple. On the left wall is a huge fresco depicting the Annunciation, and in the choir is a triptych by Defendente Ferrari.
The Sacra di San Michele complex includes the ruins of a 12-15th century monastery, which had five floors. At the end there is Torre della Bel Alda - Tower of the Beautiful Alda. And the so-called "Crypt of the Monks" probably once served as a chapel, which had the shape of an octagon and reproduced the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
