From the album: Photos
The Sacra di San Michele is one of the oldest monuments in Piedmont.
The first chapel dates back to the 4th century AD, and many other spaces were added over the following centuries, culminating in the current structure.
It is (along with the Basilica of Superga and the Mole Antonelliana) one of the three symbolic monuments of the province of Turin.
A curiosity: If you draw a straight line southeast from Skellig Michael (Skellig Islands, Ireland), you'll intersect with extraordinary precision other places consecrated to the Saint (St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, Mont-Saint-Michel in France, Sacra di San Michele and Monte Sant'Angelo in Italy, Monastery of St. Michael in Greece), after which the straight line reaches Jerusalem exactly...
According to legend, the "Sacred Line of Saint Michael" was traced by the sword thrust the Saint inflicted on the Devil to send him back to hell. The cult of the Saint, of Eastern origin, spread to the West thanks primarily to Emperor Constantine, who in 313 AD built a basilica dedicated to the Archangel in Constantinople.