Novalesa Abbey

[1] Novalesa is in the Val di Susa, on the route to the Mont Cenis Pass, and on the former Via Francigena, a major pilgrimage road.

[3] The abbey was officially founded in a position commanding the Mont Cenis Pass on 30 January 726, by a Frankish lord Abbo of Provence, whose parchment deed of gift is still preserved in the State Archives of Turin.

A third refoundation occurred after the monks of a hospital established by Napoleon at the Mont Cenis (1802) moved back to Novalesa after the emperor's fall.

The abbey is accessed through a portal leading to a first court, with a three-span portico with groin vaults, surmounted by a loggia.

There is another court around which the building revolves: at its centre are the two remaining wings of the 16th century cloister: one has five and the other has seven round arcades, supported by cylindrical columns without capitals.