Founded in 726, the Abbey of Saints Peter and Andrew of Novalesa stands in a strategic position at the mouth of the Cenischia Valley, not far from Moncenisio, along one of the main Alpine crossings between Italy and France. This place, rich in charm and spirituality, has been a crossroads of faith, culture and political power for centuries.
During the Carolingian era, the abbey experienced its greatest splendor. Charlemagne transformed it into a key outpost for Frankish expansion in Italy, strengthening its religious and cultural role. The monastery thus became one of the main centers of irradiation of European culture of the time, thanks in part to the richness of its library and scriptural production.
However, between 906 and 926, the abbey was abandoned due to Saracen raids. The monks founded a new seat in Bremen, but in the 12th century some religious returned to rebuild the complex. In the following centuries, monastic life underwent ups and downs: in 1646 the Benedictines made way for the Cistercians of St. Bernard; in 1798 the revolution decreed their suppression. After a brief return of the Benedictines in 1818, the abbey was again suppressed in 1855 by Savoy laws and transformed first into a spa, then into the summer residence of the Umberto I boarding school.
It was not until 1972 that the Province of Turin purchased the entire complex, entrusting it in 1973 to a new Benedictine community from San Giorgio di Venezia, which is still there today. Today the Abbey represents not only a place of prayer, but also a space for dialogue and communion among monks of different backgrounds, bearing witness to a current and open monastic experience.
Among the jewels of the Abbey are:
-The Chapel of St. Eldrad, which preserves an extraordinary cycle of Romanesque frescoes from 1096-97, among the most remarkable in Italy, dedicated to the life of St. Eldrad and St. Nicholas.
-The abbey church, rebuilt in 1715 to a design by Antonio Bertola, with remains of medieval and Renaissance frescoes.
-The recently opened Archaeological Museum of the Abbey, which houses artifacts dating from the first century AD to the Renaissance: stone elements, frescoes, ceramics, glassware and tools related to monastic life, including a section devoted to book restoration.
Novalesa Abbey is today a place of peace, spiritual quest and custody of memory, but also a living cultural space that combines history, art and spirituality in a dialogue that spans the centuries.
