Avigliana closes the Susa valley at the point where it opens onto the plain, inside the morainic amphitheatre between Monte Pirchiriano, which carries the Sacra di San Michele on its summit, and the hill of Rivoli. Below the town lie the Lago Grande and the Lago Piccolo, which make up the natural park of the Avigliana lakes. The name appears in 1098 as Aviliana and comes from the Roman family name Avillius.
The medieval town has survived almost intact, with its arcaded squares and, above them, the ruins of the castle begun in 574 by Cleph, king of the Lombards. Philip II of Savoy-Achaea was imprisoned here and drowned in the lakes in 1367; in 1690 general Catinat's cannon reduced the castle to what you see today.
castello di Avigliana · Parco naturale dei laghi di Avigliana · chiesa di San Giovanni and 3 more
21 places to stay · top rated: Bed and Breakfast Cascina Morelli 1862 9.7 · la casa di Shanti 9.5
Next up: Saint John the Baptist and the Palio dei Borghi, Thursday 24 June
Nearest airport: Torino Caselle, 25 km away
No events match these filters.
📅 Every year, on 24 June
On 24 June Avigliana celebrates Saint John the Baptist, and on the third Sunday of the same month the boroughs compete in the historic palio.
castello di Avigliana The ruined Savoy castle on Monte Pezzulano, facing the lakes and the Sacra di San Michele. 
Parco naturale dei laghi di Avigliana Two lakes, Italy's westernmost marshland and two disused factories inside the park. 
chiesa di San Giovanni On piazza Conte Rosso, with works by Defendente Ferrari and a fourteenth-century bell tower. 
santuario della Madonna dei Laghi On the lake shore: a Defendente Ferrari altarpiece and paintings given by a Savoy cardinal. 
chiesa di San Pietro Romanesque, three naves, medieval frescoes and the castle of Avigliana painted in 1480. 
Torre dell'Orologio Octagonal, inside the fourteenth-century walls of the Borgo Nuovo, and copied in Turin. Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Avigliana, but an easy day trip away.
