The Sacra di San Michele, symbol of the Val di Susa

The Sacra di San Michele is one of the most important buildings (as well as one of the symbols) of the Val di Susa. It is an abbey, a large architectural complex perched on Mount Pirchiriano. It is precisely this standing out in the alpine panorama that invites and strikes this structure. The place was already the site of a castrum in Roman times, only to be reused for similar reasons in the early Middle Ages. The construction of the Sacra as we know it begins in 983 and over the centuries generates the current profile: a pearl that joins the Romanesque and Gothic styles. The main points of interest of the Sacra are the large statue of St. Michael the Archangel (more than five meters high), the Scalone dei Morti (a steep staircase in the rock, immediately after the entrance to the abbey, where the remains of numerous monks) and the beautiful Portal of the Zodiac, with its jambs decorated on the theme of the constellations. Also striking are the library, with more than 10,000 volumes and the tower of the Bell'Alda, a tower in ruins more than 20 meters high, the subject of a famous local legend (the Legend of the bell'Alda, in fact). The Sacra di San Michele is the perfect destination to end excursions into nature in style, such as the route known as the 'Path of the Princes', or the ancient mule track that connects the abbey to the town of Sant'Ambrogio with the stages of the Via Crucis.