SOLVING THE MYSTERY

Turn the key to some of Piedmont’s most fascinating secrets on this half-day excursion from Turin.

Meet your private guide and driver at your hotel and relax on the ride to the Sacra di San Michele. Built at different stages between the 10th and 14th centuries, this isolated abbey sits scenically atop the rocky spur of Mount Pirchiriano, 960 metres above sea level. Its otherworldly setting and captivating Romanesque architecture inspired writer Umberto Eco’s best-selling novel The Name of the Rose. Shrouded in mystery, replete with cryptic symbols and surrounded by macabre legends, the Sacra continues to intrigue visitors today, seven hundred years after its completion. Tucked away inside every corner of the abbey lies a gripping story waiting to be revealed. Enjoy unravelling the clues with your private guide.

First of all, it is not by chance that the abbey was built on this site, high up on a mountain. To the medieval monks this must have seemed the most suitable location to honour Archangel Michael, an earthly reflection of the heavenly pinnacle on which he sits, the loftiest of angels. Still more surprising, as your guide will point out, is the fact that the Sacra di San Michele lies in perfect geographical alignment with six other monasteries dedicated to Saint Michael and is a milestone along a mystifying pilgrimage route running from Skellig Michael in Ireland to the Monastery of Mount Carmel in Israel. In order to reach the main entrance visitors are required to climb 243 steps…again, nothing here is random and this number might just conceal another enigma. As you make your way to the top, you will come across the steep stone Staircase of the Dead. Can you guess where it gets its name? Long ago the friars hung their brothers’ skeletons on these walls as a memento mori. Among the sights to reward your efforts once you complete the climb are the sculpted Zodiac Door, frescoes and paintings from the 1500s and the Tower of the Beautiful Alda. The latter is a stark reminder that miracles never happen twice, as you will learn by listening to the legendary tale of a peasant girl who misused heavenly favours and met her fate at the bottom of the precipice.

Take a long last look at the breathtaking views of the Susa Valley stretching all the way to the Alps before returning to your accommodation.