Abbey of Novalesa

Novalesa Abbey (Italian: Abbazia di Novalesa) is a Benedictine monastery in Piedmont, Italy. It was founded in 726, and dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Andrew.

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. The abbey is still in operation as an active Benedictine monastery.

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. The founding monks, Benedictines, are thought to have come from the Grenoble region. It became an important monastery with Charlemagne, who stayed there. The abbey enriched its possessions through donations and privileges from the Frankish rulers Pepin the Short, Charlemagne and Louis the Pious, until its possessions reached the western Ligurian mainland. In 817 it adopted the Benedictine rule.

The first phase of the abbey's history, abbot Eldrado's era, came to an end when it was destroyed by Saracen raiders in 906. Most monks moved to Turin, while others moved to Lomellina (in southern Lombardy) where they founded the monastery of Breme.

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