Castelluzzo. Its very name intimates
impregnability, and even though there is no evidence to suggest there was ever
a permanent stronghold here, this truncated cone of a peak holds a commanding
position above the approach to the valley. On its flanks is a distinctive
outcrop of rocks, about 200 metres below the summit, whose crags conceal an
almost inaccessible cave known as Bars d’la Tajola, or ‘Cavern of the Ropes’. Accessible
only from above, in times of hostilities – of which there were many - this lofty
bolt hole offered a place of refuge away from the threat of danger in the
valley below.
Tucked away in a small corner of Piemonte on
the border with France, Val Pellice has never featured on any Grand Tour. Although
it is the gateway to some splendid walking trails in the Cottian Alps on the
border with France, without the enticement of a ski resort it attracts little inward
tourism. It may not be one of the most majestic of Alpine valleys, but what it
lacks in physical grandeur, it makes up for in history and legend.
Bars d’la Tajola is just one of many
historical features scattered around the hills and valleys that allude to a
turbulent past. At the entrance to the valley is Torre Pellice, the valley’s principal
settlement and the centre of the ‘Valdesi’ community, whose peoples also inhabit
the adjacent valleys of Val Chisone and Val Germanasca. The cultural roots of
this mountain community go back as far as the twelfth century when these
whereabouts formed a bastion of a Proto-protestant faith that predated the
Reformation by several hundred years.
The ‘Valdesi’– or Waldensians in English – first
came onto the scene in the 12th century as part of a religious
movement which had turned its back on the worldliness of the Catholic doctrine
to observe a simpler way of life. Disillusioned with the traditional teachings
of the Church, its founder Peter Waldo
was a rich merchant from Lyon whose disciples – known as the ‘Poor Men of Lyon’
- originally met with the approval of the local Catholic archbishop. From the
east of France, its teachings quickly spread, initially to Lombardy, but later
to other regions of Europe. Over time, the Church of Rome became intransigent
to these dissidents and ultimately denounced them as heretics. Hence there
followed a policy of persecution and they were forced to go underground, or at
least retreat to less obtrusive surroundings on the mountain fringes.
Having adopted the teachings of the Poor
Men of Lyon, the fact that the Waldensian communities survived in this region
of the Cottian Alps is probably due to a combination of their geographical
isolation and their level of organisation. When Luther and other religious reformers
emerged in the early sixteenth century, the Waldensians made a conscious decision
to join the Reformation. In 1532, at the Synod of Chanforan, in the Agrogna
Valley a few miles from Torre Pellice, representatives of the Swiss Protestant
movements and the Waldensians resolved to adhere to the principles of the
Reformation and to publish a translation of the Bible in French, the language
used in the valleys at that time. Emboldened by the changes taking place, the
Waldensians came out of hiding and started to build their first temples (hitherto
their religious teachings had been served by roaming preachers who travelled
following fixed itineraries).
But religious harassment was endemic in the
Middle Ages and in the Valli Valdesi persecution came with the territory, quite
literally. Periods of uneasy truce were followed by sporadic bouts of
brutality. This came to a head in 1685 when the Edict of Nantes, which had
granted concessions to the Protestant communities of France (and Savoy) was
repealed. A full-scale pogrom followed with 2,000 Waldensians being massacred.
Many more thousands were faced with the choice of converting to Catholicism or
being incarcerated in prison. Some
sought refuge in the mountains and fought a rearguard action against the
occupying forces, who had colonised the valleys with their own. The guerrilla
tactics deployed by these so-called ‘Invicibili’ resulted in some limited
successes and in 1686 they were eventually able to negotiate a deal whereby
2,750 Waldensians were given the option of exile in Geneva.
Banished from their homelands they pinned
their hopes of a return on chnaging circumstances. These came about even
more quickly than they may have anticipated when, in 1689, there was a decisive
shift in the international situation. The king, Louis XIV was caught on the
backfoot by Dutch and Austrian troops when invading the Rhineland Palatinate and
William, Stadhouder of Holland succeeded to the English throne after James II,
a Catholic, had been driven out of the country. Western European geopolitics were shifting. The
exiled Waldensians were now in receipt of generous support from Protestant lands
to the north and the Huguenots of
southern France. On 17 August 1689, Henri Arnaud, one of the leading pastors,
assembled an army of a thousand men and set off on a tortuous route across the backbone
of the western Alps to evade militias loyal to Savoy. Crossing these hostile and
barely impenetrable lands and confronting many hazards along the way, they finally
reached the village of Bobbio in Val Pellice on August 31, having overcome all
obstacles in their path. At Sibaud, just above the settlement, a thanksgiving
service was held in recognition of this epic undertaking. A monument stands
there today to commemorate this epic event in Waldensian history, the undertaking
having since become known as the ‘Glorious Return’.
 |
| The Sibaud monument and bonfire ready for the 16 February festivities |
After a period of hostilities, various
treaties were signed which made reoccupation of their lands possible. The
events should have marked a turning point in their fortunes, but resettlement
of their valleys proved problematic, not least because they had been laid waste
and local conflicts dragged on. For 150 years the Waldensians led an insular existence
in their valleys, hemmed in on all sides by legal restrictions. Contact with
the Protestant communities outside Piemonte was however maintained and generous
support was offered from active committees in Britain and Holland. Later, the
French Revolution brought renewed hope. Because of this almost total isolation,
this period was known as the Waldensian Ghetto. Despite being physically hemmed
in however, thanks to the religious and cultural relations maintained with
outside states and the importance the community gave to education, the best
young Waldensians took up studies at illustrious English,
Swiss and German universities.
On 17 February 1848, the Albertine Statute
was proclaimed in Turin. This was later to become the basis of the legal system
for a unified Italy which was declared in 1861. More importantly for the
Waldensians it gave them the right to be free citizens with full civil rights.
To this day, Waldensians throughout the valleys of Piemonte celebrate this act
of enfranchisement annually with great bonfires throughout the valleys on the
evening of February 16.
Until this point, because of their
isolation, the Waldensian valleys had been forced to align themselves
politically and culturally to communities on the other side of the Alps. Over
the centuries, Latin, Occitan, Piedmontese, Italian and French had all
coexisted as working languages, but to all intents and purposes the latter had
become the Lingua Franca of the valleys, reinforced by the adherence to the
Reformation in the 16th century, the translation of the Bible into
French and the events surrounding the Glorious Return. Furthermore, the use of
French, which was the language of the European courts and diplomacy, enabled the
Waldensians to escape their isolation and attract the support they needed from
outside. French continued to remain the language of the valleys after the
unification of Italy, but with their gradual assimilation into mainstream Italian culture and especially
the imposition of Italian under Mussolini, Italian gradually became the more
dominant language. Television too, has contributed to the decline of French.
Today French is still spoken in the home in some of the valleys and is
understood by the majority of the population.
The last 150 years or so since the
proclamation of the Albertine Statute have been relatively peaceful compared
with the religious turmoil of previous centuries. The unification and
democratisation of Italy and the onset of secularisation have largely seen to
that. Whilst religion may not play such a big part in present-day Italy, the
Waldensians are staunchly proud of their cultural heritage. The elegant
pedestrianised Via Beckwith in Torre Pellice’s ‘quartiere
valdese’, flanked by the Tempio Valdesi on one side, and the Centro Culturale Valdese on the other, provides evidence of this.
The town’s tourist
information centre is only too pleased to direct you to some of the historical
places in the valleys around, for example: the
Sibaud monument near Bobbio Pellice where the covenant of the same name was
signed on the Glorious Return; the Ghiesa d’l Tana, a small cleft in the rocks
on the wooded hillside above Agrogna where the faithful were said to have
worshipped in times when the Waldensian teachings were prohibited; or the memorial
at Chanforan commemorating the agreement signed with leaders of the Swiss
Reformation to have the bible translated into French in 1532.
Some landmarks of course, require more
legwork, such as the Vallone degli Invicibili, the small valley where the ‘Invincibles’
held out after the 1685 massacre. Indeed – as we have already remarked - the Bars
d’la Tajola, on Castelluzzo, requires some nifty ropework too.
Further reading:
The Waldensian Valleys, Giorgio Tourn
(2005), Claudiana
Internet links:
The Waldensians: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldensians
