Travel Guide Novalesa

Near Susa, on the road to Mont Cenis, this charming medieval Alpine village is surrounded by rocks and waterfalls. It is famous for its abbey, founded in 726, one of the most important historical and artistic testimonies of the western Alps. One of the chapels features two beautifully preserved 11th-century frescoes, one dedicated to Saint Eldrade and the other to Saint Nicholas of Bari. The Carolingian abbey was abandoned in panic by the Benedictine monks in 906, when rumors spread of Saracens arriving over the Montgenièvre pass. They fled to Turin, taking with them their rich library of 6,000 manuscripts.