Instead of Mont Saint-Michel: spectacular, uncrowded abbeys and islands
Looking for an alternative to Mont Saint-Michel? Abbeys on islands, cliffs and gorges, with the same drama and none of the summer crush.
Mont Saint-Michel welcomes more than two and a half million visitors a year, most of them concentrated in summer: the Gothic spire rising from the Norman sands is an unforgettable sight, but on the causeway and along the town's single street you shuffle forward shoulder to shoulder. If you're looking for an alternative to Mont Saint-Michel among the abbeys — the same thrill of a dramatic, isolated building that has to be earned — Europe has plenty of them, almost all without a queue at the entrance. Here's where to rediscover that shiver among sea, cliffs and gorges.
The Norman model
The Norman model is an abbey on a tidal island, dedicated to Saint Michael. Its English twin, St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, has the same archetype: a castle-priory on a rock reachable on foot only at low tide, by boat at high tide. Further north, the tidal island of Lindisfarne in Northumberland and the monastery carved into the rock of Skellig Michael, off Ireland's Kerry coast, complete the geography of the abbeys on the water of the North Atlantic (none of the three is on our site, but they're worth knowing).
In Italy the closest relative in atmosphere is San Fruttuoso: a Benedictine abbey tucked into a bay of the Portofino promontory, with no road reaching it at all. You get there only by boat from Camogli, Recco or Portofino — a seasonal service, suspended in rough seas — or on foot along the park's trails. That inaccessibility, exactly as at Mont Saint-Michel, is part of the allure. On the lakeside, Santa Caterina del Sasso offers an equally vertical scene: a hermitage clinging to a sheer drop above the waters of Lake Maggiore, likewise easier to reach by ferry.
The Line of Saint Michael
There's also a symbolic thread linking all of this. Mont Saint-Michel is one of the cornerstones of the so-called Line of Saint Michael, the alignment of Michaeline sanctuaries that crosses Europe: at the exact midpoint — about a thousand kilometres from either end — sits the Sacra di San Michele, the abbey perched on Mount Pirchiriano that dominates the Val di Susa and that inspired Umberto Eco's setting for "The Name of the Rose." Climbing its Stairway of the Dead is an experience as monumental as the great Norman Hall of the Knights, but with a fraction of the people.
If what you love most about Mont Saint-Michel is the effort of the ascent, two abbeys will make you walk. San Pietro al Monte, above Civate, is reached only by an hour-and-a-half trail and rewards you with some of the finest Romanesque frescoes in Italy. San Vittore alle Chiuse, in the Marche, is a compact stone abbey planted at the mouth of the gorge where the river Sentino cuts through the mountain, beside the Frasassi Caves.
Stone and silence
Want the pure drama of stone and silence? San Galgano, in Tuscany, is a roofless Cistercian cathedral: Gothic naves open to the sky and, just above, the sword in the stone of the Montesiepi hermitage. In Irpinia, the Abbazia del Goleto lines up Cistercian ruins and a Norman tower on a wind-swept hill, where you'll often be the only visitor.
For those who prefer intact Romanesque and lowland vistas, northern Italy is generous. Pomposa, in the Po Delta, lines up a soaring bell tower and mosaic floors amid the Ferrara countryside. Sesto al Reghena, in Friuli, is an entire abbey-town of Lombard foundation, twelve centuries of history among the fields. In the Monferrato, Vezzolano guards a cloister and a carved rood screen of rare delicacy among the hills. And in Umbria, the abbey of San Pietro in Valle at Ferentillo hides Lombard frescoes in the wooded heart of the Valnerina.
If staying abroad tempts you instead, in France there's Conques: a Romanesque abbey and a stage on the Way of Santiago, with a Last Judgement tympanum that alone is worth the trip, set in a village of the Aveyron. In Lisbon, the monastery of São Vicente de Fora towers over Alfama with azulejo-clad cloisters and a panoramic terrace that is often deserted.
When to go
When to go? For almost all of these destinations, spring (April to June) and early autumn (September to October) offer better light and minimal crowds; for San Fruttuoso and Santa Caterina, where the boat matters, always check seasonal timetables and the weather before setting out. Pick one: you'll have the drama, and you'll keep the calm.
Practical guides for Como
Practical info
When is the best time to visit Instead of Mont Saint-Michel?
The recommended time is April, May, June, September and October, when it is less crowded.
Where is Instead of Mont Saint-Michel?
Instead of Mont Saint-Michel is located in Italy.
