Roger Had A Son, Arduin Glabrio, Who Recovered The Valley
Of Susa From The Saracens, And Established Himself At Susa, At The
Junction Of The Roads That Come Down From Mont Cenis And The Mont
Genevre.
He built a castle here which commanded the valley, and
was his base of operations as Lord of the Marches and Warden of the
Alps.
Hugh de Montboissier applied to Arduin for leave to build upon the
Monte Pirchiriano. Arduin was then holding his court at Avigliana,
a small town near S. Ambrogio, even now singularly little altered,
and full of mediaeval remains; he not only gave his consent, but
volunteered to sell a site to the monastery, so as to ensure it
against future disturbance.
The first church of Giovanni Vincenzo had been built upon whatever
little space could be found upon the top of the mountain, without,
so far as I can gather, enlarging the ground artificially. The
present church - the one, that is to say, built by Hugh de
Montboissier about A.D. 1000 - rests almost entirely upon stone
piers and masonry. The rock has been masked by a lofty granite
wall of several feet in thickness, which presents something of a
keep-like appearance. The spectator naturally imagines that there
are rooms, &c., behind this wall, whereas in point of fact there is
nothing but the staircase leading up to the floor of the church.
Arches spring from this masking wall, and are continued thence
until the rock is reached; it is on the level surface thus obtained
that the church rests.
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