Holy art

The Susa Valley is a land rich in history boasting an extensive material and immaterial cultural heritage, with small artistic treasures set against a fairytale landscape, scattered in the characteristic villages or valleys. Among these are places imbued with particular historical and artistic interest where one can gather for prayer and admire the architectures and paintings, including valuable constructions and restorations: the monasteries and abbeys such as the Sacra di San Michele in Sant'Ambrogio di Torino, the Abbey of SS. Pietro e Andrea in Novalesa, the Carthusians of Madonna della Losa in Gravere, Montebenedetto and Banda in Villar Focchiardo; the numerous churches and countryside chapels hidden in suggestive corners among the mountains preserving precious fresco cycles both externally and internally: from Avigliana to Bussoleno, from Condove to Villar Dora, from Susa to Sauze d'Oulx and Bardonecchia; the museums of Bardonecchia, Giaglione, Novalesa, Susa and San Giorio di Susa gathered in the Diocesan Museum System and, finally, the museum collections.

The picturesque itinerary among historical abbeys, monasteries, and parish churches is a specific peculiarity of the Susa Valley. Since the Middle Ages, in fact, the culture and life itself of the Susa Valley territory have been shaped by their influence.
Next to the three great Benedictine monasteries, you can discover the Augustinian presences of the Prevostura of San Lorenzo d'Oulx and Santa Maria del Moncenisio, the Carthusians at Montebenedetto and Banda, the Franciscans at Susa and Avigliana.

The Susa Valley is particularly rich in fresco cycles, mostly restored, ranging from the 11th to the 18th century.
Through images and colors, you can recognize examples of the lives of saints and the main Christian moral precepts that testify to the faith experience of those who have sought to walk along the path outlined by the Gospel in history.

The itinerary to discover the Diocesan Museum System, coordinated by the Diocesan Museum of Susa, will lead you from museum to museum in an engaging story of Alpine religious art, which is manifested through a significant heritage of sculpture, goldsmithing, paintings, and vestments of Italian and European production, located throughout the entire territory of the Susa Valley.

Ancient churches that have represented a point of reference for entire communities for centuries, characterized by significant historical, artistic, architectural, and cultural value. Many of them are included in the cultural itineraries of the Susa Valley, from the Romanesque to the Baroque, passing through the Via Francigena...