For thousands of years, its low altitude and relatively temperate weather have provided a route connecting Germanic Europe to Italy via the Eisack river valley.

During the Holy Roman Empire, the road crossed the Brenner Pass, allowing armies, merchants, and pilgrims to traverse the mountain range.

Between 1439 and 1446, the canon Friedrich Zollner wrote a two-volume gradual, and Stephan Stetner created a missal that was an exhibit at the World's Fair in Vienna in the late 19th century.

In 1483 the Dominican theologian Felix Faber of Augsburg wrote in his travel memoirs about the abbey: "It has a large church with precious ornaments and a good library".

The abbey has a church whose main hall was created by the sculptor and architect Antonio Giuseppe Sartori of Trento in the South Tyrolean Rococo style.

[8] The abbey is also home to a cloister for Augustinian canons, a conference center, a library, a school and dormitory for children, vineyards and winery.

[4] The abbey library occupies two floors and contains about 65,000 printed volumes (mostly on scientific and theological subjects) and numerous manuscripts with colorfully decorated miniatures.

At the end of World War I, with the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Südtirol region, including Brixen and the Abbey of Novacella, was annexed by Italy and was called Alto Adige.

After World War II, South Tyrol (Alto Adige) gained autonomy under the Italian government, and German-language education was once again allowed.

In 2009, the influential Italian company Gambero Rosso named Celestino Lucin, the abbey's oenologist, winemaker of the year.

The scale and impeccable condition of the abbey, given its almost thousand-year age, make it a major attraction for tourists, pilgrims, and wine enthusiasts.