Church of St. Michael the Archangel

The Benedictine Abbey of St. Michael the Archangel is located on the summit of Mount Sant'Angelo, formerly Mount Camiliano, near Arcevia. It is dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, the Lombard patron saint. In medieval times, as early as 1024 the abbey was an important place of worship, with several churches and convents in the area under its dependencies.

Over time the monastery passed from the Benedictines to the Camaldolese, but by the 1600s, it slowly lost importance, gradually falling into disrepair. In 1904 an Arcevia committee carried out a restoration of the church, placing a large iron cross above it, visible even from a distance, but the abbey was later closed and abandoned; in recent years a new restoration was carried out and now the abbey is open to the public. On May 4, 1944 it was the site of a Nazi-fascist massacre against partisans and civilians.

The abbey lies on the imaginary line that also includes other churches dedicated to the archangel Michael, such as Sacra di San Michele in the Susa Valley, Mont Saint Michel in Brittany, and Saint Michaels Mount in Cornwall, to name the most famous. Although small in size, it is an interesting three-aisled building, with barrel vaulting the central and cross vaulting the side aisles, and on the altar a copy of the wooden statue of St. Michael the Archangel, the original of which, attributed to the famous French engraver Léonard Chailleau, is in the church of St. Medardo in nearby Arcevia.

On the interior columns, under the Romanesque capitals, are some inscriptions not yet translated or deciphered. There is also a second altar to the right of the central one, where there are stones donated from the shrine of Monte Sant'Angelo in Gargano and from the Sacra di San Michele in Val di Susa.

Around the abbey there is a beautiful view of the countryside, the central Apennines and the sea, when visibility permits. Near the abbey is a bronze monument by Bruno d'Arcevia dedicated to the "Fallen Police Officers."