L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 10 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2017 L'Italo-Americano P y seeing the building from afar, as you climb the s teep roads running through the woods that surround it, the Sacr a di San Michele looks exactly as you imagined: a place isolated from the rest of the world, the perfect setting for a crime novel. It is no surprise that the Benedectine monastery in which Umberto Eco's best-seller T he Nam e of the Ros e takes place was inspired precisely by this monumental abbey, now a symbol of the Piedmont region. Also known as Abbazia di San Mich ele della Chius a (S aint Michael's Abbey), the monastery s tands on top of M ount Pirchiriano, at the mouth of the V al di S us a valley that out- stretches west of Turin. Let's go up there and try to figure out why Eco found it so interesting. The first thing you need to know is that this part of the Alps has been inhabited since prehis- toric times. However, it was only between the years 983 and 987 A.D. that – thanks to a series of coincidences – the building of the monas tery on M ount Pirchiriano began. Because of its remote location, this rocky spur had been chosen as a place for spiritual retreat by the hermit San Giovanni Vincenzo, who venerated Saint Michael the Archangel and had thus built a little shrine to him. In the mean- while, a rich French lord by the name of Hugon de Montboissier had made all his way to Rome to ask for the Pope's forgiveness after a lifetime of s in: as a penance, he w ould have to choose between seven years of exile and the years-long quest of building an abbey. Needles to say, the rich man opted for the second option: on his way back to F rance through the Via Francigena, Hugon happened to chance upo n G iovanni Vincenzo's hermitage and thus decided to build the church right there. The first intended location for this new place of worship was actually Mount Caprasio ("mountain of the goats"), but – as the legend goes – the Archangel himself eventually showed the exact spot where he wanted the abbey to be built: by some miracle, the timber which was to be used for construction disappeared overnight, only to be found again on the neighbor- ing Mount Pirchiriano ("moun- tain of the pigs ") w here the Sacra now stands. Even though today – follow- ing more than two hundred years of abandon – the Sacra di San M ichele is entrus ted to the Rosminians, for almost six cen- turies since its foundation the place was home to a thriving Benedectine community that made it into an important reli- gious and cultural center: in other words, the abbey was then very much like the one in The Name of the Rose. By the time you finally reach the vicinity of this impressive monastery, it becomes very clear w hy Umberto Eco's curiosity was ever aroused: suffice it to say that the firs t building one encounters when approaching SIMONE SANNIO Ascent to the Sacra di San Michele, the abbey that inspired "The Name of the Rose" the main entrance is called Sepolcro dei Monaci (Sepulcher of the Monks), because it was thought to be the friars' burial site. No matter that these ancient ruins have nothing to do with a cemetery chapel and were in fact only a reproduction of the Holy Sepulcher, there for all pilgrims to see: just past the guest quar- ters and the big statue of Saint Michael standing at the entrance – realized by the artist Paul de Doss Moroder in 2005 – you may find something much more creepier, that is, the so-called G reat S taircas e of the D ead (Scalone dei Morti). It is surely no coincidence that the grand staircase got to be known by this peculiar name. As a matter of fact, this was the actual place where some of the monks used to be buried, either as a homage to those dead who should not be forgotten or as a warning for all the people who passed by: consider that up to a few decades ago there also used to be several skeletons located in the central niche. Nowadays, only five of the staircase's origi- nal tombs still remain, but lucki- ly enough one of its most impor- tant artistic features has sur- vived: we are talking about the magnificent Por tale dello Zodiaco (Portal of the Zodiac) at the top of the stairs, a unique masterwork carved by the great 12 th century sculptor Nicholaus and representing the signs of the Zodiac on the right side and the constellations on the left. It doesn't take more than a look before one is reminded about Eco's lengthy description of the marvelous portal at the begin- ning of The Name of the Rose. By way of some flying but- tresses, an outdoor flight of stairs, and the thick wooden doors of yet another Romanesque portal we finally enter the church. Inside it, a whole set of treasures: from remarkable works of art – such as Defendente Ferrari's Triptych (1520) – to the sarcophagi with the remains of ten princes of the House of Savoy, not to mention the corner where Pope John Paul II knelt in prayer during his 1991 visit-pilgrimage to the Sacra. The church itself, howev- er, is probably most impressive because it happens to lay exactly on top of Mount Pirchiriano, as we learn by the mountain's sum- mit emerging right from beneath one of the left nave's pillars. Among the many other mys- teries hiding in the abbey, we have to mention tw o more attractions, at least: the Library, which is open to the public only during special visits (possibly another source of inspiration for Eco's novel), and especially the ruins of the New Monastery on the north-west side, including the s o-called T or r e della Bell'Alda (Tow er of the Beautiful Alda) to which another colorful local legend relates. Eventually, though, there is also another great mystery that needs to be considered: as many have noticed, the S acra di S an M ichele is exactly halfw ay betw een tw o other famous places of worship dedicated to the s ame A rchangel (the Santuar io di San Michele Arcangelo in the Apulia region and Le Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, France), thus being located on an imaginary straight line – a sort of divine plan – that also outstretches to the sanctuar- ies of St. Michael's Mount in Cornw all, U K and S kellig Michael in Ireland. Awe inspiring and majestic, the Sacra di San Michele is indeed a perfect location to set a gothic thriller like The Name of the Rose ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES Built on top of a high hill and surrounded by the mountains, the Sacra brings together history, spirituality and natural beauty

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