Val Pellice
Coordinates: 44 ° 48 ' N , 7 ° 9' E
The Val Pellice , in German often the Val or Valle Pellice, is one of the three so-called Waldensian valleys and a regional authority ( Comunità montana ) in the Italian metropolitan city of Turin . It is located in the west of the Piedmont region in the Cottian Alps on the border with France.
The Pellice Valley lies between the roughly parallel Val Chisone in the north, as well as its side valley Germanasca , and the Val Po in the south. That is where the Po rises . The valley's name comes from the Pellice river flowing through it , which rises on the east side of Monte Granero (3171 m), the highest mountain in the valley. This has about 22,000 inhabitants.
The so-called Waldensian valleys Pellice, Chisone and Germanasca were retreat areas for the Waldensians from the 13th to the 19th century . They joined Martin Luther's teaching in 1532 and, after severe persecution, gained religious freedom in 1848 . Its main town was and is Torre Pellice . Since the Angrogna Valley also played an important role in the Waldensian history, the Waldensians were often referred to as "angrognini" ("those from Angrogna").
The lower valley is connected to the long-distance road and rail transport systems in the direction of Turin. The upper Pellice Valley is touched by long-distance hiking trails of the Grande Traversata delle Alpi , Via Alpina and Sentiero Italia systems , which also provide connections to the west. As one of the few valleys in the Italian western Alps, the Pellice valley does not have a passable pass to France, which reinforces elements that give the visitor the impression of being unspoilt, but it is a cultural landscape . A number of endemic plant and animal species exist in the remote valley with its side valleys.
geography
Location, outline
The valley runs from west to east and falls within less than 30 km from the main Alpine ridge to the lowland of the Pos . The valley exit from the mountains is about 5 km east of Torre Pellice and 6 km south of Pinerolo . The Pellice flows further east here, absorbs the water-rich Chisone River and flows into the Po after a total of 53 km . At Torre Pellice the Angrogna joins the Pellice on the left. It rises at an altitude of 2,452 m from the Lago della Sella Vecchia at the foot of the 2,832 m high Monte Rous and flows into the Pellice after 15.1 km.
In the north and north-east the valley borders on the Val Chisone, in the north-west on the Val Germanasca, in the east on the Pinerolo plain and in the south on the upper Potal and in the west on the French Guiltal. The Val Pellice has a series of side valleys that run across it to the north or south. One of them is the Valle d ' Angrogna , which turns north at Torre Pellice; there is the community of the same name. In the Valle di Luserna , which turns south at Luserna San Giovanni (Val Po), is Rorà , in the Valle dei Carbonieri , a valley that turns a little east of Bobbio Pellice south towards Val Po, there is the Rifugio Barbara Lowrie and in Vallone degli Invincibili , which turns north between Villar and Bobbio Pellice (Valle Germanasca), is the Rifugio degli Invincibili.
The most important peaks of the valley, from which one can often see the towering Monviso , which can even be seen from Turin, include the Monte Granero (3171 m) at the northern end of the valley and the Monte Meidassa (3105 m), a neighboring summit of the Granero, then the Bric Bucie (2998 m) at the southern end of the valley in the direction of Valle Germanasca and on the border with France, the Monte Manzol (2933 m) at the northern end of the valley, finally the Monte Friolànd (2738 m) on the ridge between Val Po and Val Pellice, the Punta Cornour (2619 m) towards Valle Germanasca and the Monte Vandalino (2121 m) at the entrance to the valley at Torre Pellice. The Castelluzzo rock (1416 m) on the southeastern mountain flank of the Vandalino should also be mentioned. Above the Borgata Bonnet belonging to Torre Pellice, at the foot of the Castelluzzo, lies the Bars de la Tagliola cave, which served the Waldensians as a refuge in times of persecution. The Monte Vandalino separates two side valleys of the Val Pellice, the Valle d'Angrogna and the Vallone degli Invincibili, and thus the municipal areas of Torre Pellice and Villar Pellice .
Passes play an enormous role for the connections within and between the valleys, such as Colle della Vaccera (1461 m) between the Valle d'Angrogna and the Val Chisone, Colle Giulian (2451 m) towards Valle Germanasca, Colle Bucie (2630 m ) below the Bric Bucie (here is the Bivacco Nino Soardi ), then Colle della Croce (2298 m) above the Rifugio Willy Jervis , the lowest foot crossing to France, finally the Colle dell'Urina (2525 m) in the direction of Queyras , Colle Manzol (2700 m) below the summit of the same name, Colle Sellière (2851 m) east of Monte Granero in the direction of Queyras and finally the Colle della Gianna (2531 m) between Val Po and Val Pellice west of Monte Frioland.
Administrative division, population
The nine valley communities are (up the valley) Bibiana (320 m above sea level ), Bricherasio (400 m), Luserna San Giovanni (475 m), Torre Pellice (516), Villar Pellice (664 m) and Bobbio Pellice (732 m, to 3171 m). There are also municipalities in the side valleys, namely Lusernetta (507), Rorà (967), Angrogna (782 m) and Pra del Torno in the Valle d'Angrogna. Other places in the valley are Villanova on the upper reaches, Garzigliana at the tributary of the Chisone and Pancalieri at the confluence of the Pellice into the Po. The Comunità Montana Val Pellice extends over an area of 29,302 hectares.
At the end of 2006, 23,092 inhabitants lived in the area of the nine Comunità, which corresponds to 78.8 inhabitants per square kilometer. The residents are distributed extremely unevenly. In Luserna San Giovanni alone there were 7,776 inhabitants, in Torre Pellice 4,561, in Bricherasio 4,152 and in Bibiana 3,197. In Villar Pellice there were only 1,199 inhabitants, in Angrogna 845, in Bobbio Pellice 585, in Lusernetta 514, and in Rorà only 263. The number of valley inhabitants has been increasing again since 1981 (with the exception of Bobbio Pellice), while before that it had plummeted for decades.
In 2006 there were 23,092 inhabitants in the valley, and since then some communities have seen significant increases, while others have continued to shrink. Between 2006 and 2016, the valley again lost around a thousand inhabitants, which in turn are increasingly concentrated in the larger towns. The temporary dynamics become clearer in comparison with the population figures of 1981, with the gains from two and a half decades of growth in the last decade being almost completely lost again.
The inhabitants of the valley are spread over nine communities with the following population figures.
| local community | Residents 2016 |
Residents 2006 |
Residents 1991 |
1981 residents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angrogna | 889 | 845 | 724 | 801 |
| Bibiana | 3442 | 3197 | 2616 | 2733 |
| Bobbio Pellice | 563 | 585 | 608 | 674 |
| Bricherasio | 4616 | 4152 | 3921 | 3586 |
| Luserna San Giovanni | 7395 | 7776 | 8054 | 7444 |
| Lusernetta | 506 | 514 | 497 | 540 |
| Rorà | 257 | 263 | 261 | 252 |
| Torre Pellice | 4551 | 4561 | 4601 | 4661 |
| Villar Pellice | 1076 | 1199 | 1207 | 1219 |
| total | 22169 | 23092 | 22489 | 21910 |
Flora and fauna
The now sparsely populated valleys of the Western Alps offer protection for species that have been displaced in many cases by human activity. In 1994 and 1995, the endangered species of salamander Lanzas Alpine salamander, which only occurs in the Cottian Alps, was examined at an altitude of 1670 m in the Pellice Valley. The species occurs there between 1200 and 2600 m altitude.
A subspecies of the real ground beetle occurs exclusively in the Pellice valley , namely Carabus cenisius , first described in 1878. Another endemic species, namely Doderotrechus ghilianii valpellicis , even bears the name of the valley. It is a ground beetle subspecies , with Doderotrechus ghilianii another three subspecies being detected.
Despite these endemics, which can reinforce the impression of "unspoiled nature", the Pellice Valley is a cultural landscape. This can easily be seen in the cultivated plants in the lower valley, for example in viticulture, but the forests alone leave a different impression on the visitor. This applies, for example, to the chestnut forests , which have been subject to human care for centuries and whose fruits have flowed into the local cuisine (chestnuts). The trees grow in the entire valley between about 500 and 1200 m. Meanwhile, the Sentiero dei Castagnet , the 'chestnut path ', leads from Villar Pellice via Torre Pellice, crosses the Luserna river, reaches Bibiana, then San Bernardo and ends at the “Malva Arnaldi” school - it is named after the founders of the Liborio Malva agricultural school and named Virginia Arnaldi. The chestnut producers have joined forces to form the Produttori castagne della val Pellice in order to improve care methods and quality. Until the 1980s, the chestnuts were sold in their own markets on Fridays in Torre Pellice and Tuesdays in Bobbio, and stocks have been recovering for two decades. However, harvests fell by almost 90% in 2012 due to pest infestation, or more precisely, due to the Japanese chestnut gall wasp, only to have slowly returned to the old level since then.
On the main river of the valley there are extensive stocks of the German tamarisk , which is called Myricaria germanica here . For them, a 53-hectare protected area ( Stazioni di Myricaria germanica ) was created along the central Pellice between Bobbio Pellice and Villar Pellice , in which around 70 bird species have been identified, 40 of which were breeding there, 14 only appeared there during the migrations of their respective species (Status: 2015). Among the legitimate, brooding in the valley species here are the Wryneck ( Jynx torquilla ) and the red-backed shrike . Since their habitat is tied to the man-made cultural landscape, the survival of numerous species depends on the preservation of this type of landscape.
Four of the bird species that multiply in the valley are considered endangered. In addition to red-backed shrimp and wryneck, this is the Italian sparrow - its populations have collapsed by about half due to changes in agriculture - and the tree sparrow . The 73 bird species recorded in the protected area and its surroundings correspond to 18.8% of the 389 bird species recorded in Piedmont and the Aosta Valley, the 40 species that breed there correspond to 19% of the 210 corresponding species in the larger area.
In addition to the aforementioned tamarisk conservation area , other plant protection areas were created, namely the Prati da sfalcio , i.e. grass clippings, the Saliceti ripari a Salix eleagnos , i.e. protected areas for the lavender pasture , then the Alneti di ontano bianco (Alnus incana) e ontano nero (Alnus glutinosa) , therefore protected areas for gray and black alder . A total of 280 plant species have been identified in the area.
Four types of fish are predominant in the tamarisk conservation area, namely the trout barbel ( Barbus meridionalis ), the stream , the bullhead and the marbled trout . There are also three species of butterflies living there, namely the Russian bear , the light blue-toothed ant and the Easter butterfly . In addition, there are a total of 15 dragonfly species, 30 grasshopper species and a total of 74 butterfly species.
history
Statutory history
The prescribed periods also left traces and artefacts in the Pellice Valley, some of which are in the Museo Valdese of Torre Pellice. There are also a number of rock drawings and carvings , the age of which could not be determined. Such artifacts can be found at altitudes up to over 2000 m. They probably come from historical times and are therefore considerably younger than long assumed. In 1981 more than 100 such sites were known in the Pellice Valley and its side valleys.
Remains of the Neolithic , such as stone axes dating from the 6th to 4th millennium BC, can be better classified . Come from BC. Physical studies have shown that the raw materials come from the area between Monviso and Col Barant; the axes were exchanged in large parts of southern and western Europe . A blade that was found on the hill above Luserna probably dates from the 3rd millennium. It came from across the Alpine ridge into the valley. Abstract rock drawings originate from the Copper or Bronze Age , but also anthropomorphic ones that were discovered near Villar Pellice in the 1990s. They are similar to those in Provence . From the second half of the 1st millennium BC The amber balls were discovered between the roots of a chestnut in Bobbio .
Some place names indicate Celtic origins, such as "Mutassa" or " Bricherasio ". At Bibiana there are references to a Celtic fortress, which the name "Famolasco" is supposed to indicate.
Lombards and Franks
With the Lombards , who conquered large parts of Italy from 568 onwards, the Cottian Alps, in which the Pope had undisclosed rights, came under their rule. These rights in the “Patrimonium Alpium Cottiarum, quod quondam ad ius pertinuerat apostolicae sedis” ( Paulus Deaconus , Historia Langobardorum VI, 28) were restituted by King Aripert through a solemn donation. The area became Franconian as a result of the conquest of the Longobard Empire by Charlemagne, which lasted until 774 .
Like much of Piedmont, the Pellice Valley also belonged to the margraviate of Turin, founded in 941 by Hugo von der Provence . This in turn was one of several margraviates that were supposed to serve to ward off Saracen attacks .
Margraviate of Turin, Signori of Luserna (from the end of the 11th century)
In the Pellice Valley, the Signori von Luserna became one of the most powerful families in the late 11th century when the margraviate fell into smaller units. At the end of the development, the region dominated the county of Savoy , but initially numerous smaller Signori ruled the valley. The first mention of the ancestral seat of Luserna, the castle of Luserna, which stood east of Torre Pellice, took place in 1096. According to the corresponding document, it went on March 28, 1069 to Maria, Alemannic origin and daughter of Hugo, and her under Salic law living husband Gosuinus, called Merulus. According to historical tradition, he was the progenitor of the Signori von Luserna. According to other documents, he appeared in their vicinity before the death of Margravine Adelheid von Susa († 1091), probably as early as 1063. Her death accelerated the collapse of the Margraviate Turin, whereby Merulus was able to secure some scattered parts to their spatial connection he later tried. Like other local rulers, he took the opportunity to found an independent dynasty , despite retaining the title Vicecomes .
This split into three lines in a process that could not be reconstructed, namely those of the Bigliori, the Rorenghi and the Manfredi, which, according to the in-house legend, go back to the corresponding sons of an ancestor. As a result, there were three domains, namely that of Signore di Torre, Signore di Luserna and that of Villar. The respective Signori also had numerous rights in the other areas, so that one could only speak of territorial rule in an overarching sense. In 1328, a Pietro son “Gotefredi de la Turre condomini Lucerne” had legal rights “in castris Lucerne, Turris, Montisbobii”, ie in all three fiefdoms of the family. Accordingly, their entirety was addressed as “domini de Lucerna”, in 1295 with feudal rights over castles, villages and people in Luserna, Bobbio and Villar , Torre , Campiglione , then over the villages of Roletto and Angrogna , three quarters of the village and the people of Bibiana , finally the castle, the village and the people of Bagnolo , who in turn were given to local nobles. The family had received these feudal rights in part from the Bishop of Turin, apart from the Decima in Campiglione, which they claimed was their allod , but above all from Philip of Savoy-Achaia in 1295 . The former rights to Caramagna and Sommariva had since been sold. At the same time, the integration of the Signoria into the rulership of the Savoy was well advanced. Until then, the inclusion of the entire “people” in the legitimation process was in use in their territory in 1159 at the latest. A public meeting confirmed and guaranteed the validity of a document. This was not a right based on a contract, but oral tradition. In the valley, as a document from 1251 shows, the lords claimed not only the fodrum , but also the repossession of the feudal estates in the event of missing heirs, then they monopolized the hunting and fishing rights, so that no one was allowed to hunt without their permission. Their rights extended across the Alpine ridge into the Combe des Charbonniers, but many rights had also been granted.
Statutes of Luserna (1276)
The valley in turn used a podestà , which, however, was chosen by the Signore. With the statutes of Luserna, which were read to the public on December 20, 1276, the rights of the valley dwellers and the signori were regulated, but above all the duties and services that he could demand and which were previously based on oral tradition, were written down. The executive rights were now with the Podestà, the jurisdiction with the iudex curie appointed by the Signore . This probably meant that the related tasks were entrusted to legal experts. The punishments were collected in monetary form, i.e. in denarii , severe corporal punishment in the event of insolvency , or public display.
Little is known about population density. Only from Angrogna do we know that in 1232 eighty fireplaces were counted. All today's places already existed, and evidently the density of use forced numerous legal delimitations, for example with grazing rights. The land required for keeping livestock was leased for money. This was particularly true of the upper and middle valley - chestnuts and nuts also grew in the middle valley - while fruit and wine were grown in the lower valley. This economic imbalance was the cause of the first document of division of the valley, a document from 1222, in which it was determined that the most valuable areas, namely the pastures in the upper valley, belonged to all three lines of the Luserna. Thus the overly privileged position of the Lords of Villar was put into perspective. The first in 1182 in a document Pope Lucius III. Luserna market, mentioned in 1182 for the canons of Vezzolano , became a central trading point for livestock and related products. The trade across the Western Alps became increasingly important. At the same time, the importance of the road taxes that the Signori collected and which in turn enabled them to develop these trade routes grew. Eventually, the use of forests, especially wood, increased.
Increasing autonomy of the upper valleys, League of Briançon (1343–1713)
Despite belonging to the Dauphiné , the higher valleys enjoyed considerable autonomy. They almost formed a kind of free "peasant republics". The Val Pellice was a core valley of the federal government that extended into the Varaita valley . This alliance of Briançon , which was formed long before 1343 and existed until 1713, included ten "valleys", ie mountain communities grouped together to form valley communities, which, however, only had the upper parts of the respective valley. The political core was around Briançon and the Durance valley to the south of l ' Argentière-la-Bessée , the Haut Queras ( Guil Valley) down to the Chateau Queyras at an altitude of about 1200 m, and the Col de Montgenèvre (1854 m) , the most important pass between northern Italy and southern France. In the Cottian Alps, the federal government dominated the entire Susa valley , the upper Chison valley above Perosa and the uppermost Varaita valley. These communities of the "peasant republic" bought their landlord, the Dauphin , for 12,000 ducats in 1343 all landlord rights. This enormous sum was an expression of a corresponding economic strength, which has now increased further due to the location on important mountain passes. In 1713, however, the union was divided between France and Savoy in the Treaty of Utrecht . It was by no means the seemingly rational division along an inhospitable border, but rather the mutual reaching for a prosperous landscape with its cross-border connections, which was clearly demarcated from the plains.
Waldenses
The Waldensians , a French lay reform movement of the 12th century, which denied the Catholic Church's claim to sole representation and which referred exclusively to the Sermon on the Mount , was strongly represented in the valleys of the Cottian Alps. It was opposed by the state and the church, but while it was largely suppressed everywhere until the 14th century, its communities continued to exist in the valleys. Despite the oppression, the itinerant preachers , known as barba , maintained extensive networks that connected them to distant Waldensian groups. Born around 1515 in Val Perosa , Gille des Gilles was ministro in Calabria and returned to the Pellice Valley as a pastor in the middle of the century . He was also active in Venice , on the borders with Germany and in Lausanne ; In 1556 he again visited the Waldensians in Calabria.
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The local groups in the valleys joined Martin Luther's teaching in 1532 after consultations in the Angrogna Valley . With this, however, the religious community became a church and the forces of the Counter-Reformation were again drawn to it. However, at times when it came into conflict with France, Savoy-Piedmont often resorted to the Waldensian military resources, which gave them some protection. Then they were given the right to freely practice their profession. In the Treaty of Cavour, Savoy even recognized the existence of the Waldensians. In 1579 2000 Huguenots and Waldensians occupied Saluzzo after a Catholic attack . With Bartholomew's Night in 1572, tolerance towards the Huguenots in neighboring France ended, even if there was a certain balance between the Edict of Nantes (1598) and its repeal in 1685. When the Huguenot persecution began in the margraviate of Saluzzo in 1601 , many of them fled the Alpine valleys westwards or to Geneva .
With the Piedmontese Easter in 1655, French and Piedmontese troops marched through the valleys, plundering and murdering. In Val Pellice, when a new military action threatened, there was armed resistance under the leadership of Giosué Janavel (1617–1690) until 1663, when Janavel had to leave the area. In exile in Geneva, after the new Waldensian wars broke out between 1686 and 1689, Janavel wrote a handbook for guerrilla warfare in the mountains (1688–1689), which gained considerable fame during the resistance against the National Socialists .
When France and Savoy allied against the Waldensians in 1685 after the Edict of Nantes had been repealed, they were defeated after heavy fighting. The survivors were able to flee on the night of May 22nd to 23rd, 1689, on paths that are difficult to walk even during the day. Many died on the way to Geneva at the Colle del Moncenisio in Val Susa . But in 1689 about 1,000 of them returned from Lake Geneva to their valleys ( Glorieuse rentrée ) under the leadership of Pastor Henry Arnaud . They defended themselves for six months on the Balziglia (1370 m) in the Germanasca valley against a superior force. But three days after their defeat, Savoy surprisingly declared war on France. The Waldensians were now given permanent religious freedom, but their area was limited to parts of the Chisone, Germanasca and Pellice valleys. They were not granted religious freedom until February 17, 1848, when they were the last Protestant group in all of Italy, a day that is still celebrated in the valley today. From then on they were allowed to live below 600 m again. Today's center of the Italian Waldensians is in Torre Pellice . The Società di studi valdesi was founded there in 1881 . A Waldensian museum was established in Balziglia in 1939 to commemorate the fighting.
At least since the Celtic-Ligurian era, the valley was marked by fortifications and walled villages. A number of the older fortresses in the valley were destroyed in 1594 during a military campaign under Carlo Emanuele I of Savoy. These include fortresses near Luserna (on Monte Ombroso, known under the names Forte di San Michele or Torrazzo , the original seat of the Lords of Luserna, the noble family that dominated in the High Middle Ages). The situation was similar in Torre Pellice, where there was a fort on the Collina del Forte from 1655 to 1690, as well as the fortress Santa Maria di Lucerna. There is now a reconstruction from 1821. There was also a small Fortino della Munizione . In 1594, fortifications at Angrogna, Bibiana ( Castelfiore ) and Villar were also destroyed. The latter, like Luserna, had a city wall, the gates of which appear in the sources as late as 1889. There was also a Fortino di Pertusel . In addition, a branch of the Luserna, the Rorengo, owned the Palagio Forte there . Ciastel was the name of a fortification near Bobbio that was destroyed in 1549. Above the Borgata di Villanova there was the Forte di Mirabouc from 1565, which was repeatedly used as a prison and which was razed in 1794.
In the Angrogna Valley there is the Waldensian temple Ciabas, the monument of Chanforan, which commemorates the connection to the Reformation that took place there in 1532, the Scuola Odin-Bertot, the grotto Gueiza d'la Tana, which, according to recent research, is probably not a former place of the The practice of cult, but has long been held for it, as well as the so-called Coulège de barbe above Pra del Torno. The medieval Waldensian preachers, who are called “barba” in the local dialect, may have been trained here.
In Bobbio Pellice, the Sibaud monument commemorates an important event of the “ Glorieuse rentrée ”: When the Waldensians returned in 1689, they swore an oath in Sibaud on September 11th, which initiated the guerrilla war against the authorities in the valley.
Progressive emigration, beginning tourism, Charles Beckwith (from 1834)
The survival of the Waldensians, who were in contact with other Protestant groups, was also financed from English funds. The reports of William Stephen Gilly (1789–1855) on the Waldensians, in particular his 1824 Narrative of an Excursion to the Mountains of Piemont, and Researches among the Vaudois, or Waldenses , and a committee he set up to support the Waldensians brought an initial increase in visitor numbers. Among them was the officer John Charles Beckwith , who at that time was still British Nova Scotia , who settled in Torre Pellice in 1834. He established 120 schools in the valley, where he died in 1862. The English were the first tourists in the valley, followed by other groups, initially interested in the culture and spirit of the Waldensians, and increasingly interested in nature in the second half of the 19th century.
Fascism, German occupation, resistancea
The fascist regime of Mussolini enforced, as in all Italian municipalities, by decree of August 1, 1931, that everywhere an important street should bear the name "Via Roma". With the Concordat of February 11, 1929, known as the Lateran Treaty , Catholicism was declared the state religion again, and the separation of church and state enforced in 1870 was repealed. In the course of the Italianization forced by Rome, the place names were initially changed and Occitan was replaced by Italian in schools. On December 19, 1943, the Carta or Dichiarazione di Chivasso , the Chivasso Charter or Declaration, "which is now considered a kind of historical birth certificate of European federalism". It was created in the middle of the struggle against the National Socialist occupation, after Mussolini had already been overthrown.
Between September 8, 1943 and April 1945, the Waldensian valleys provided numerous hiding places for partisan groups of the Resistance . As early as 1940, the demand for resistance as an obligation of a straight Christian had been discussed in small circles. The basis was the theses of the theologian Karl Barth , who compared Mussolini with Hitler. In the Tipografia Alpina in Torre Pellice, right from the start of the German occupation, leaflets were printed calling on the population to resist. While Garibaldini units were soon operating around Barge and Luserna, in the upper valley it was the units of Giustizia e Libertà . The partisans ruled the valley above Torre Pellice until the start of the so-called “Sperber combed out” on February 10, 1944. On March 18, 1944, raids took place again, in which the deputy commandant Sergio Coalova was captured; Two days later, the two partisans Antonio Dassano and Enrico Malan were shot in the La Vittoria frazione (Torre Pellice), and a few days later the Lombardini group was surrounded and imprisoned. From June 1944 the partisans, who again dominated the upper valley in the summer, were supplied with supplies and weapons from the air by the Allies. With the “Operation Nightingale” the occupiers put an end to this phase during the summer. The Rifugio Willy Jervis was later named after one of those arrested: Jervis was executed on August 5, 1944 in the main square of Torre Pellice. Emanuele Artom (June 23, 1915 - April 7, 1944), who was still tortured in Turin, and Jacopo Lombardini (born December 13, 1892), who was shot in Mauthausen shortly before the end of the war, on April 25, 1945, were also murdered.
The Centro Culturale Valdese was established in Torre Pellice in 1989 and includes two museums - one ethnographic and one historical - and a library .
Economy and tourism
Wine is still grown in the lower and middle valley, such as the red and rosé wine Pinerolese named after Pinerolo . In the middle and upper valley, forms of livestock farming dominate, with goats in the Pellice valley being special . On the one hand, these offer endangered breeds such as Frabosana, Roaschina or Brigasca; on the other hand, they are kept in relatively small herds of a maximum of 500 animals. The shepherds either live in the valley or come out of the plains with their flocks (transhumance). Since the return of the wolf to the Cottian Alps, the attitude in unguarded herds that had been established since its disappearance has been abandoned. In 2011, however, there was still no stable population in the upper valley, in contrast to the Susa , Chisone and Germanasca valleys .
The valley is the site of a whole series of Bivacchi and Rifugi , which usually belong to the Alpino Italiano Club . They serve as a refuge or a stopover for visitors on their hikes. These include the Rifugio Willy Jervis (1732 m) on the Conca del Prà at the head of the valley, the Rifugio Granero (2377 m) below the Monte Granero, the Rifugio Barbara Lowrie (1753 m) at the end of the Valle dei Carbonieri and the Rifugio Barant ( 2370 m) on Colle Barant as well as the Rifugio Jumarre in the Angrogna Valley on Colle della Vaccera (1469 m), the Rifugio Lago Verde (2583 m) below the Bric Bucie, which officially belongs to Prali and thus already to the Valle Germanasca, then that Rifugio Barfè (1220 m) below Monte Vandalino in the Angrogna Valley, finally the Rifugio degli Invincibili (1356 m) in Vallone degli Invincibili. The Rifugio Valanza (1748 m) near Rorà is no longer in operation. The Bivacco Nino Soardi (2630 m) on Colle Bucie is an important refuge .
Since 1972, the Tre Rifugi Val Pellice mountain race has been held every year in July (with a few exceptions) . The longer route (54 km and 4100 vertical meters) leads past the Rifugi Barbara, Granero and Willy Jervis, the shorter route comprises 32 km and 2200 vertical meters.
traffic
The valley has been accessible by rail since the late 19th century. There are train stations in Bricherasio , Moreri and Bibiana (Comune di Bricherasio), Luserna San Giovanni , Torre Pellice .
The valley is connected by roads from Turin, namely via Stupinigi and Strada statale 23, or from the Tangenziale di Torino at the Drosso exit, where a motorway branches off towards Pinerolo. From there a Strada provinciale leads into the valley. Bobbio Pellice is about 62 km from Turin.
Education and culture
In the valley there are six public libraries, namely the public or municipal libraries of Bobbio Pellice, Bibiana and Torre Pellice, as well as Bricherasio and Rorà. By far the most important scientific institution of this type is the library of the Waldensian Cultural Center Foundation .
In total (as of 2006) there were eleven public primary schools (scuole dell'infanzia) and five private ones. There are also six scuole secondarie, i.e. secondary schools, including four di primo grado and two di secondo grado . Only in Luserna San Giovanni there is an Istituto d'istruzione superiore and the private Liceo Classico Valdese .
In Lusernetta there are outstanding late medieval works of art in the Cappella di San Bernardino inside the cemetery. The chapel contains frescoes from the middle of the 15th century, which are attributed to the Maestro di Lusernetta , the otherwise unknown ' Master of Lusernetta '.
The so-called Ala del Mercato Coperto , also called Loggia dei Mercanti , then the Church of San Giacomo and the Palace of the Conti di Luserna, which is now located in Luserna Alta, on the Piazza Parrocchiale, also date from the transition from the late Middle Ages to the early modern period Casa dell'Immacolata is located. There is also the Torre di San Francesco and the convent of the Servi di Maria, which today belongs to the Mauritian order .
literature
Flora and fauna
- A. Giordano, Gian Paolo Mondino: Ecology and possible land use of the upper Val Pellice , in: Annali, Istituto Sperimentale per la Selvicoltura, Arezzo Vol. 1 (1970) 423-539.
history
- Sara Tourn: Torre Pellice. La “Ginevra italiana” attraverso i secoli , Claudiana, Turin 2013.
- Daniele Tron: Cenni di storia sul val Pellice , in: La Beidana 51 (2004) 5-24.
- Tullio Contino: C'era una volta a Torre Pellice , R. Chiomonte, Turin 1995.
- Vincenzina Taccia: Presenza dei saraceni in Val Pellice , in: La Beidana 6 (1987) 36-40. (Legends in the valley).
- Alessandro Barbero : Il dominio dei signori di Luserna sulla Val Pellice (secoli XI-XIII) , in: Bollettino storico-bibliografico subalpino 91.2 (1993) 657-669.
- Giorgio Tourn: Le Valli Valdesi , Claudiana, Turin 2013.
- Maurizio Carmemelina: L 'emigrazione dei valdesi in Sudamerica. 150 anni fa dalla val Pellice a Montevideo , Alzani, 2008.
- Carlo Papini (ed.): Come vivevano ... Val Pellice, Valli d'Angrogna e di luserna fin de siecle (1870-1910) , Claudiana, 1980.
- Daniele Arghittu: I giornali raccontano. Storie e cronache della Val Pellice, 1910-1914 , Claudiana, 2010.
- Andrea Melli: L'emigrazione dalle valli valdesi all'inizio del '900: i casi di Villar Pellice e Luserna San Giovanni , in: La Beidana 25 (1996) 9-18.
- Valter Careglio: Tra fabbrica e società: vita quotidiana degli operai tessili della val Pellice fino agli anni Cinquanta , in: La Beidana 10 (1989) 50-70.
- Valter Careglio: Il marzo 1943 in val Pellice , in: La Beidana 18 (1993) 58-64.
- Nuto Revelli : Il mondo dei vinti. Testimonianze di vita contadina , Einaudi, Turin 1977.
Arts and Culture
- Giorgio Tourn: I templi delle Valli valdesi , Claudiana, Turin 2011.
- Elena Romanello: Gli affreschi di Lusernetta. Una testimonianza del culto bernardiniano in val Pellice a metà del '400 , in: la beidana 33 (1998) 3–20 ( online , PDF)
- Giorgio Tourn: La chiesa valdese di Torre Pellice negli ultimi cinquant'anni , in: La beidana 44 (2002) 51-66.
- Augusto Armand-Hugon: Torre Pellice , Società di Studi Valdesi, Torre Pellice 1980.
- Mario Benna, Enrico Bertone, Maria Rosa Fabbrini, Daniele Jalla, Roberto Mantovani: La Val D'Angrogna , Fusta Editore, Saluzzo 1999.
- Valentina Porcellana, Giulia Fassio, Pier Paolo Viazzo and Roberta Clara Zanini: Cambiamenti socio-demografici e trasmissione delle risorse materiali e immateriali: prospettive etnografiche dalle Alpi occidentali italiane , in: Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de geographie alpine 104.3 (2016) ( online comparison between Val Pellice and Macugnaga )
travel Guide
- Gian Vittorio Avondo, Davide Rosso: Sui Sentieri dei Valdesi. Itinerari escursionistici dalla valle di Susa alla val Pellice , Edizioni del Capricorno, Turin 2015.
- Guide della Val Pellice. Ambienti, risorse, tradizioni, itinerari , Kosmos, Turin 1994.
Web links
- Comune di Bibiana
- Comune di Luserna San Giovanni
- Val Pellice (Provincia di Torino) - Website of the Province of Turin (actually Città Metropolitana) with information on Val Pellice (Italian)
- Waldensian Cultural Center Foundation ("Centro Culturale Valdese" - CCV) (German)
- Denis Lachmann (ed.): The Waldensians. A travel guide for the Waldensians in Italy. 2010. [Compilation from various publications, translated into German]
- Piero Cannizzaro: Val Pellice , documentation, Rai 3 (ital.)
- In Val Pellice - site with lots of information about Val Pellice (Italian)
- Ricette tipiche della Val Pellice
Individual evidence
- ↑ An early work on anthropogeography : Giorgio B. Roletto: Ricerche antropogeografiche sulla val Pellice , in: Memorie Geografiche di Giotto Dainelli pubblicate come supplemento alla "Rivista Geografica Italiana", n. 35, Florence 1918.
- ↑ Cf. Osvaldo Coisson: Angrogna. The story of a Waldensian community , translated by Robert Zwilling, Fusta, Angrogna 2013, p. 22.
- ↑ Caratterizzazione dei bacini idrografici. Indagine e studi , Table 1.a / 5: Bacino: Pellice , p. 82 ( online ( memento of the original from February 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and Archive link according to instructions and then remove this note. , PDF).
- ↑ Insediarsi in Val Pellice , Turin 2008, p. 12.
- ↑ ISTAT .
- ↑ Salamandra lanzai
- ^ Franco Andreone, Paolo Eusebio Bergò, Vincenzo Mercurio: La salamandra di Lanza (Salamandra lanzai). Biologia, ecologia, conservazione di un anfibio esclusivo delle Alpi , Le scienze fusta editore, Saluzzo 2007.
- ↑ Sara de Michelis, Franco Andreone, Roberto Sindaco, Valentina Clima: Aspetti ecologici e struttura di una popolazione di Salamandra lanzai (Urodela Salamandridae) in alta Val Pellice (Provincia di Torino) , in: Rivista Piemontese di Storia Naturale 20 (1999) 241 -248.
- ^ La fauna in Italia , Touring Editore, Milan 2002, p. 53.
- ↑ Hans Turin, Lyubomir Penev, Achille Casale: The Genus Carabus in Europe. A synthesis , Pensoft, 2003, p. 42.
- ↑ Taxonomy for Doderotrechus ghilianii valpellicis (Casale, 1980) , insektoid.info. Cf. Achille Casale, Pier Mauro Giachino: Note sul genere Doderotrechus Vigna Taglianti, 1968, con descrizione di Doderotrechus ghilianii isaiai n. Subsp. (Coleoptera, Carabidae) , in: Rivista Piemontese di Storia Naturale 29 (2008) 279–297, here: p. 280 ( online , PDF).
- ^ Storia , school website.
- ↑ Il castagno. Il gigante dei boschi , invalpellice. naturalmente!
- ↑ Davide Giuliano: Gli uccelli del SIC IT1110033 “Stazioni di Myricaria germanica” , in: Rivista piemontese di Storia naturale 37 (2016) 311–326 ( online , PDF). The abbreviation SIC means Sito di Importanza Comunitaria . Since 2000, 123 of these places of importance for the community have been established in Piedmont.
- ↑ Davide Giuliano: Gli uccelli del SIC IT1110033 “Stazioni di Myricaria germanica” , in: Rivista piemontese di Storia naturale 37 (2016) 311–326, here: p. 318.
- ↑ Davide Giuliano: Gli uccelli del SIC IT1110033 “Stazioni di Myricaria germanica” , in: Rivista piemontese di Storia naturale 37 (2016) 311–326, here: p. 321.
- ↑ Davide Giuliano: Gli uccelli del SIC IT1110033 “Stazioni di Myricaria germanica” , in: Rivista piemontese di Storia naturale 37 (2016) 311–326, here: p. 313.
- ↑ Davide Giuliano: Gli uccelli del SIC IT1110033 “Stazioni di Myricaria germanica” , in: Rivista piemontese di Storia naturale 37 (2016) 311–326, here: p. 314.
- ↑ Osvaldo Coisson: Incisioni rupestri del versante italiano delle Alpi maritime e Cozie , in: Ampurias 43 (1981) 79-95, here: p. 84 ( online , PDF).
- ↑ La preistoria. Cenni sui reperti di epoca preistorica in Val Pellice , InValPellice, with pictures.
- ↑ Le fortificazioni in Val Pellice. Dai siti storici fortificati alle tracce superstiti del Secondo Conflitto Mondiale .
- ↑ Alessandro Barbero: Il dominio dei signori di Luserna sulla Val Pellice (secoli XI-XIII) , in: Bollettino storico-bibliografico subalpino 91.2 (1993) 657-669, here: p. 657 ( online ).
- ↑ Alessandro Barbero: Il dominio dei signori di Luserna sulla Val Pellice (secoli XI-XIII) , in: Bollettino storico-bibliografico subalpino 91.2 (1993) 657-669, here: p. 664.
- ^ Marco Fratini: Fra le Valli valdesi e il Subappennino dauno. Itinerari della predicazione e della storiografia alla vigilia della Riforma , lecture on August 7, 2004, in: Alfonso Tortora, Marco Fratini (ed.): Valdesi. Da Monteleone di Puglia a Guardia Piemontese , Editrice Gaia, 2005, pp. 25–38, here: p. 29.
- ↑ Fredo Valla: La storia umana , in: Alpi Cozie (Piemonte Parchi. Le guide), Turin, undated , p. 6 f. ( online , PDF)
- ↑ Gabriel Audisio: The Waldensians. The story of a religious move , Munich 1996.
- ↑ Museo della Balsiglia ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ Le fortificazioni in Val Pellice. Dai siti storici fortificati alle tracce superstiti del Secondo Conflitto Mondiale .
- ↑ Cf. Comune di Bobbio Pellice, accessed on April 24, 2016 ( Memento of the original of April 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ Cf. Giorgio Tourn: History of the Waldensians , kitab Erlanger Verlag, Klagenfurt / Vienna 2013, 4th edition, p. 152.
- ^ William Stephen Gilly: Narrative of an Excursion to the Mountains of Piemont, and Researches Among the Vaudois, Or Waldenses, Protestants of the Cottian Alps , London 1824 ( digitized ). General information on this topic: Tourn Giorgio: Viaggiatori britannici alle valli valdesi (1753-1899) , Claudiana, Turin 1994.
- ↑ On Beckwith cf. Jean Pierre Meille: General Beckwith. His life and labor among the Waldenses of Piedmont , London 1873 ( digitized ).
- ↑ Sabine Bade, Wolfram Mikuteit: Partisan Paths in Piedmont. Ways and places of resistance between Gran Paradiso and Monviso , Querwege, Konstanz 2012, p. 238.
- ↑ Sabine Bade, Wolfram Mikuteit: Partisan Paths in Piedmont. Ways and places of resistance between Gran Paradiso and Monviso , Querwege, Konstanz 2012, p. 236.
- ↑ Michele Tosca: I ribelli siamo noi. Diario di Torino nella Repubblica sociale italiana. La crudele cronaca di una guerra civile 1943-1944 , Chiaramonte, 2007, p. 135.
- ↑ Sabine Bade, Wolfram Mikuteit: Partisan Paths in Piedmont. Ways and places of resistance between Gran Paradiso and Monviso , Querwege, Konstanz 2012, pp. 236, 249.
- ↑ See for example Fondazione Centro Culturale Valdese (accessed on February 27, 2018) .
- ↑ M. Verona, M. Corti, LM Battaglini: L'impatto della predazione lupina sui sistemi pastorali delle valli cuneensi e torinesi , in: Quaderno SOZOOALP 6 (2010) 149-169, here: p. 156 ( online , PDF).
- ↑ F. Marucco, E. Avanzinelli: Stato, distribuzione, e dimensione della popolazione di lupo in Regione Piemnonte , Centro Gestione e Conservazione Grandi Carnivori, 2012, p. 5 ( online ( Memento of the original of July 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. , PDF).
- ↑ See archived copy ( memento of the original from April 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on April 11, 2016 at 10:02 a.m.)
- ↑ See archived copy ( memento of the original from April 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on April 11, 2016)
- ↑ See http://www.rifugioinvincibili.it/view.php?page_id=2 (accessed on April 11, 2016).
- ↑ See 3rifugivalpellice.it (accessed April 24, 2016) .
- ↑ Insediarsi in Val Pellice , Turin 2008, pp. 6-8.
- ↑ Elena Rossetti-Brezzi: Maestro di Lusernetta, c.1450 , in: Giacomo Jaquerio e il gotico internazionale , exhibition catalog, 1979, p. 412 f., But above all Elena Romanello: Gli affreschi di Lusernetta. Una testimonianza del culto bernardiniano in val Pellice a metà del '400 , in: la beidana 33 (1998) 3-20 ( online , PDF).
