The abbey
At the foot of a mountain, there once was a silver fir. The tree remained in the shadows, waiting for a king. One day, 1300 years ago, the king arrived. The fir began to shine, radiating snow-white rays, and Ratchis, the Lombard prince, approached. At the top of the spruce, the king saw the silhouetted figure of the Saviour and on that spot, he used the dark stones to build a mountain church destined to survive the centuries. Thus the Abbazia di San Salvatore was born from this splendid Greek cross crypt, which in the shadow and secret of its 36 columns has cherished, for over 1,000 years, the Amiatina Bible - the oldest and most authoritative manuscript, translated into Latin by St. Jerome. Around the church, Abbadia flourished, whose narrow dark stone alleys are still illuminated once a year by the splendour of the Fiaccole, large pyres of wood that burn on Christmas Eve, forever alluding to the splendour of that ancient tree and the forgotten wonder of a king...
La miniera
The very identity of Abbadia was set to change once more thanks to the stones used to build the Abbey. When it was discovered that mercury could be extracted from trachyte, the history of the town was transformed into that of the mines and the reddish cinnabar would have the fate of modulating the relationship between an archaic society and an industrial one able to affect secular equilibrium, giving birth to divisions, but not eliminating our sense of identity. The two "rocky" souls of Abbadia still survive today. The first beats in the medieval stone abbey, in those of the village and re-enactments like the Offerta dei Censi, while the other relives the mining era at the charming Parco Museo Minerario museum.
The mountain
These same stones make up the mountains that surround the town, looming over a fairy tale landscape that is made to be lived all year round. From Europe’s largest beech forest to the beautiful chestnut trees that have, for centuries, been the livelihood of the population, the area is fully equipped for sport. Through a network of over 40 kilometres of trails for hiking and trail running, you reach the mountain itself, with its trails for freeriding and mountain biking, not to mention its 12 slopes for alpine skiing, four for Nordic skiing, Snow Park and eight ski lifts.