ABBAZIA SACRA DI SAN MICHELE

The Sacra of San Michele, an imposing religious architectural complex of Romanesque times, was founded around 1000 A.D. is the symbolic monument of the Piemonte (Piedmont) Region since 1994. Founded as a Benedictine abbey, it is one of the oldest places of worship dedicated to the Arcangelo Michele (Archangel Michael); the Rosminians fathers are its current custodians.

From the east, the cult of the Archangel spread and developed into the Mediterranean regions, particularly in Italy, where it united with the expansion of Christianity. In the fifth century on the promontory of the Gargano rose the most ancient and most famous place of worship of the west, the Santuario (Sanctuary) of San Michele in Monte Sant'Angelo.

The cult of San Michele arrived in Val di Susa (Susa Valley) in the V or VI centuries, the abbey was located in a highly evocative setting and recalls the two micaelici (of Archangel Michael) settlements of the Gargano and of Normandy. Founded on the rocky spur of Mount Pirchiriano, it is located in the middle of a pilgrimage route of more than two thousand kilometers that unites almost all of Western Europe from Mont-Saint-Michel to Monte Sant'Angelo. 

From the entrance floor you reach the church through a wide and steep staircase in the central niche where until 1936 there were some skeletons of monks kept, hence the name of Scalone dei Morti (Stairway of the Dead). When you reach the top of the Scalone (stairway), you will cross the Portale dello Zodiaco (Zodiac Portal), a Romanic work sculpted by the Maestro Nicolao, the jambs are carved to the right with the twelve zodiacal signs and to the left with the southern and boreal constellations. The historical and symbolic capitals of Caino (Cain) and Abele (Abel) are of considerable value.