Do you know where the highest library in Europe is located? In Marmora, at an altitude of 1,580 metres. It was founded by Father Sergio De Piccoli, a Benedictine monk, who collected and preserved an immense library of over sixty-five thousand volumes on the premises of the Marmora rectory.

He died in 2014, but he began collecting books in the mid-1980s, when he came to Marmora. He founded a Benedictine monastery here without cloisters or stairways, a simple monastery characterised by a deep sense of hospitality.

Today, his legacy, some 65,000 books, are kept in perfect order and catalogued in Marmora. Entire collections, ancient texts, illuminated manuscripts and unobtainable books accumulated in the five rooms in a library that resembles a labyrinth.

A unique place frequented by students, researchers and academics.

The library is always at risk of neglect and oblivion, so visiting it will not only help you discover a magical and unique place, it will also help keep it alive. Once you walk through its door, it will be hard to tear yourself away from so many treasures!

• Borgata Superiore (Marmora)

• How to visit the site

  THE LIBRARY IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC