1300 years of Novalesa Abbey

The monastic community and the metropolitan city of Turin are celebrating the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of Novalesa Abbey (Italy).

It was on 30 January 726, in the middle of winter, when Abbone launched the foundation of the abbey: 1300 years have passed, and the Benedictine monastery has experienced periods of varying importance in the history of the Alps, until 1972, when the province of Turin bought it from Convitto Umberto I in order to prevent it from falling into ruin.

This important gesture has given new life to a unique and special place over time and has required significant financial investment for restoration work, some of which has been ongoing in recent months.

On 30 January 2026, a solemn ceremony with the recitation of the votive vespers of Saints Peter and Andrew, presided over by Cardinal Roberto Repole, Bishop of Turin and Susa, marked the 1300th anniversary of the foundation of the Abbey of Novalesa, in the Val Cenischia.

The Benedictine monastic community and the metropolitan city of Turin, owner of this jewel of art, faith, history and culture, chose to organise a symbolic ceremony, concelebrated by dozens of abbots and priests, in the presence of Metropolitan Mayor Stefano Lo Russo, Deputy Mayor Jacopo Suppo, with councillors Sonia Cambursano and Caterina Greco, Councillor Andrea Gavazza and all the mayors of the Susa Valley.

During the ceremony, the commitment to preserve the abbey, maintaining it as a place of peace and welcome, was renewed: Cardinal Repole, Mayor Lo Russo, Prior Michael David Semeraro, Abbot President of the Benedictine Congregation Ignasi Fossas and Don Gianluca Popolla signed a charter of refoundation.

Metropolitan Mayor Stefano Lo Russo presented a souvenir to the prior of the abbey, whom he described as a ‘beacon of spirituality in the heart of the Alps, a tireless guardian of the ora et labora rule’, paying tribute ‘to the mission that the monastic community has accomplished and continues to accomplish with humility and constancy, preserving the thousand-year-old tradition that reigns here’.

The Benedictine monastic community has prepared a rich and meaningful programme for the 1300th anniversary of its foundation, with the presence of illustrious personalities throughout 2026, until the end of the centenary on 15 October, the day of the consecration of the abbey church, when another Piedmontese cardinal, Monsignor Giorgio Marengo, will arrive from Mongolia to close the celebrations.

https://www.abbazianovalesa.org/wp/