Located on an imposing base of 26 meters at 960 meters above sea level, overlooking the top of Mount PIRCHIRIANO on the border between the Cottian Alps and the Po Valley, it is the symbolic monument of Piedmont and one of the most eminent religious architectures of this Alpine territory, belonging to the diocese of Susa, the first stop on the Via Francigena in Italian territory.
The abbey is consecrated to the cult of the Archangel Michael, who occurs five times in the Holy Scripture: in particular, in the book of Daniel, he is depicted as the supreme leader of the celestial army and warrior against the enemies of the Church, while in the book of 'Apocalypse Michael is the prince of the angels faithful to God who fights and drives away the dragon (Satan) and the rebel angels.
Even if it is not exactly a haunted castle, the Sacra di San Michele seems the ideal setting for mysterious and disturbing stories, so much so that it also inspired the great writer Umberto Eco for the setting of the novel "The Name of the Rose".
A legend from the Susa Valley tells that the Templars climbed to the Sacra di San Michele by climbing, on foot and on horseback, up Mount Pirchiriano eight hundred years ago. The Knights of the Temple would have met in the ancient abbey to negotiate the transition of some monks to the esoteric and religious Brotherhood of the Rosicrucians. Three Templar crosses engraved in the stone next to the door of the Abbey, the Iron Gate, would demonstrate the reliability of the meeting.
In medieval times, an important pilgrimage route passed through the Sacra di San Michele: the Via Francigena, in its Alpine variant of the Val di Susa which connected Mont-Saint-Michel, in France, to the sanctuary of San Michele Arcangelo in Monte Sant 'Angelo, in Puglia.
To reach the Sacra di San Michele by road, you need to reach Turin and take the motorway for Frejus and exit at Avigliana Centro, then continue at the roundabout for TRANA, you will pass two tunnels and at the end of the last one, you will find another roundabout , where you will find the sign for the Sacra, at this point all you have to do is follow the tourist signs, i.e. the brown ones, which will take you to the car park, which for the last kilometres, you will follow the SP188.
For more information, visit the Sacra website at the address:
sacradisanmich...
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4 сен 2024
