San Pietro di Novalesa
Immersed in a splendid landscape at the
foothills of Moncenisio, the Abbey of Novalesa was
founded in 726 by Abbone, a Frankish
nobleman and governor of Susa. The position along Via
Francigena determined its strategic importance and the
privileges obtained by Frank people quickly made it rich and
powerful. During the age of Charlemagne, who stayed there prior to
attacking the Lombards, the Abbey housed more than 500 Benedictine
Monks, who in addition to aiding the pilgrims they dedicated to the
transcription and miniature painting of precious codes, and it
became one of the most celebrated cultural centres of the age. From
this point a monk narrated the vicissitudes of the Abbey leaving
that which is one of most famous works of the medieval
historiography, the Chronicon Novalicense (middle of the
11th century). Today little remains of the immense
patrimony of treasures of the Novalesa, plundered by the
Saracens in 906 and abandoned by the monks for nearly a century. In
the park are four isolated medieval chapels; the most famous of
them is certainly that of St. Eldrado (beginning of the
11th century) that holds in its small setting a cycle of
frescoes that narrates the life of the saint together with that of
Saint Nicholas (1096-1097).
Benedictine Abbey
10050 NOVALESA (Turin)
Telephone: 0122.653210
Tourist visiting hours:
Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 to 11:30, every half hour. Tours are
guided by a monk.
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