"Sacra di San Michele" Avigliana by JLBG

Avigliana Travel Guide: 29 reviews and 70 photos

Each time I drove the Susa valley, I was impressed by what looked like a stronghold standing on top of a mountain. It overhangs the Susa valley and appears as soon as you leave Turin. As much you get closer and closer, it gets more impressive. I thought that, given its strategic situation, it had to be a fort commanding the passage between Italy and France. I did some research and found that it was named Sacra di San Michele.

I felt that we should visit it when we would not be hurrying to the Adriatic or hurrying back home. We finally did it in October 2007.

Last visit to Avigliana: Oct 2007
Intro Written Feb 13, 2008
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Reviews (28)

Cute little castle Off The Beaten Path (1)

This cute little castle stands a few kilometers upvalley to Avigliana. I have taken this photo from the autostrada and... more travel advice

The landscape on the lower valley - Avigliana

The landscape on the lower valley Things to Do (27)

The three photos show the valley towards the east The first photo shows Avigliana and the autostrada from Susa to... more travel advice

Tower of the beautiful Alda Things to Do (27)

The tall structure in the middle of the photo is the tower of the beautiful Alda. The legend says that when she was to... more travel advice

Ruins of the old monastery. Things to Do (27)

The terrace overlooks the ruins of the old monastery that was built between the 12th and the 14th . This is also where... more travel advice

Comments (6)

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hopang Sep 22, 2009 at 7:57 AM

Absolutely lovely Avigliana travel page with excellent photographs and great travel tips. Sacra di San Michele certainly looks amazing from your images, and so are the sanctuary and the ruins of Romanesque church. Thanks for the virtual tour. ~ho & pang
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Elisabcn Nov 26, 2008 at 1:55 PM

I started to climb up to la Sacra but my mate was feeling bad and we had to leave...i missed a great thing! Dont think i will go back to Piemonte (too many times...) but hopefully ill visit Mount Saint Michel next year ;-) Thanks for sharing, JL!
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Pawtuxet Nov 14, 2008 at 4:56 PM

Well, you certainly satisfied your curiosity about what was at the top of the hill. I really like the monk and those columns.
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scottishvisitor May 21, 2008 at 12:29 PM

Loved all the little details of the monastery through your wonderful pictures & descriptions :) Jumping twice seems like a bad idea but a return visit to see the cute castle close up a good one
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Kuznetsov_Sergey Mar 7, 2008 at 11:16 AM

It was very interesting to learn about another (in Italy this time) St Michel’s sanctuary after reading your Skellig Michael. Probably there is a magnificent link between them as a straight line on a map. Next stop - on Mont Saint Michel!
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Trekki Feb 22, 2008 at 11:36 PM

Wow, I can really imagine why Eco had this monastery in mind when he wrote Name of the Rose :-)) It looks .. hm.. mysterious! Thanks for describing :-)) I'll link it to my Eberbach Monastery one :-))