When in the eighteenth century they decided to rebuild the parish church, they called in Bernardo Vittone, one of the great architects of the Piedmontese baroque, and he made an unusual choice: he built the new church on the other side of the Romanesque bell tower, turning it round. The old one faced west, as tradition requires; this one faces north.
What to see
The tower is of the eleventh century, thirty-seven metres high, and it has stayed standing while all the churches around it changed: first the Romanesque one on the right, then Vittone's on the left, built between 1759 and 1763. It is the oldest thing in the village and has become its sign.
Under the high altar, in an urn visible from the front, are the remains of saint Giovanni Vincenzo, the hermit who founded the Sacra di San Michele and died in the year one thousand. The community of Sant'Ambrogio has kept them since 1150. The parish also holds the abbey's breviary, the book with which the monks of the Sacra prayed for centuries.
Visiting
The church is in the centre of Sant'Ambrogio, in the Val di Susa, a short way from the railway station; free entry with hours tied to services. Twenty minutes.
Our editors' tip
Step out onto the forecourt and look up towards the mountain: up there is the Sacra di San Michele, founded by the man in the urn. From this village starts the mule track that climbs to it, an hour and a half of steps and turns through the wood. It is the road the pilgrims took, and the right way to arrive at the top.