Sacra di San Michele - The Church

 

Once inside the amazing abbey, we headed up a stone staircase and into the church.  It was beautiful and peaceful.  We could hear the fathers chanting their prayers from somewhere in the rooms below.  

There was one employee there.  After I'd prayed and then walked around a bit, he approached us and showed us a rock at the base of a column.  

"This is the top of the mountain," he explained.  They built the church directly on top of the summit, and the exposed rock is still visible in this spot.

Spring Break

 We interrupt this Italian vacation for a quick look at the kids and I on spring break, the week after I got back from Turin.

We had a nice day at our zoo.  We wanted to see the elephants before they are sent to the elephant sanctuary in Tennessee.  

Then we headed to visit my family, and we went to a nature preserve with my sister and nephew.

\

And we celebrated this girl, who also now has her driver's permit!

Sacra di San Michele

Do you see the building way up there on top of the mountain?  That is the Sacra di San Michele, a one-thousand-year-old abbey dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel just outside of Turin.  This view is from the train station, where we started our walk.  

First, we had to walk through the cute little town of Sant' Ambrogio di Torino.  

Then, we took the old cobblestone mule track up the mountain.

The stations of the cross line the way up the mountain.  After a very long time (about an hour and a half or so), we walked through another, smaller village.

After more climbing, we were finally on the last 15 minute trek of the pilgrimage.

We made it!  It took us nearly 2 1/2 hours to walk from the train station to the abbey, but it was so worth it.  I had to stop and rest several times, and although Nathaniel will complain about the walk now, he was completely supportive on our journey.  

The Sacra was built in the 980s.  It's hard to imagine how those monks built an abbey literally on the top of the mountain.  Pilgrims have been visiting the Sacra for over a thousand years.  

to be continued...

 

The Shroud Museum

 

That same day, we went to the little Shroud Museum.  I knew it was a small museum, inexpensive and open just a few hours a few days a week.  What I didn't know was that the staff (probably mostly volunteers?) was so dedicated and gave guided tours in English.  

This box held the Shroud in the past.

Also in the Museum is the Chapel that was built for the Shroud.  I'm not sure of the date, but the Shroud was held here once again in the 2000s for 2 years when a fire once again endangered it.  (The Shroud survived a fire a few hundred years ago, and the folded edges of the cloth were burned, which is why the Shroud has triangular holes on it today.)

The Archbishop of Mexico City gave the Archbishop of Turin this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is in the Chapel.

Even little Chapels in Italy have pipe organs.

Most of the books in the small bookshop were in Italian, so I didn't get a book there.  I enjoyed this tour very much.

The Egyptian Museum and St. Philip Neri Church

 

On Thursday morning, our first full day in Turin, we started off with the Egyptian Museum.  Turin has the oldest Egyptian Museum in the world (yes, older than even in Egypt), and has an incredible collection.  We spent hours wandering through the galleries.  

Cow Mummy

It suggested that it takes the average visitor 2 1/2 hours to view the museum.  Since I am not your average museum visitor, it took us much longer, close to 4 hours.  I really could have spent more time, but my leg was really bothering me, and I was hungry, so I wrapped it up.  I took very few pictures in the museum because I was just too busy reading and absorbing everything, but Nathaniel bought me a book in the bookshop that has pictures of many things we saw.  It also had a quote which history buffs will appreciate, from Jean-Francois Champollion, the man who cracked the code to translate hieroglyphs, "The road to Memphis and Thebes passes through Turin."  

We later visited this gorgeous church.  I loved all the churches!  This one was not on the "must-see" list, but was just breathtaking.  I was so glad we stopped to look and pray here!  It's St. Philip Neri Church.

Turin

 

I went to beautiful churches every day in Turin.  This one was the Church of the Holy Martyrs.  

It was built for the Jesuits by the Savoy family, starting in the 1500s, but added to throughout the 1700s.

There is just so much beauty and history in Italy!  

And, of course, we had some fantastic food.  Here's Nathaniel in a restaurant:

Agnilotti is a specialty in the Piedmont region, and I enjoyed some at several meals.  They are like little raviolis, and like ravioli, the stuffing varies.  I loved all of the kinds I tried!