The Sacra di San Michele is an abbey on Mount Pirchiriano in Piedmont, with elements of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Its crypt dates to the late 10th century, and the church and monastery were built from 1015 to 1035. Abbot Ermengardo, in office from 1099 to 1131, added a new church and surrounding structures. Its sources disagree on whether it was founded in 966 or under Sylvester II.
Visitors climb the Scalone dei Morti, the Stairway of the Dead, which has 243 steps. At the top stands the marble Porta dello Zodiaco, a 12th-century sculpture. The crypt shows Byzantine influence, and a fresco of the Annunciation dates from 1505.
Pope Gregory XV suppressed the monastery in 1622. It stayed abandoned until 1835, when Antonio Rosmini was asked to restore it. The Rosminians still care for it, and it inspired Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose.
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