This is an island of the Occitan language in the far south: from the twelfth century onwards Waldensians came here from the kingdom of Arles, from Provence, from the Dauphiné and from the Occitan valleys of Piedmont, and the lords of Fuscaldo, who owned these lands, gave them refuge. For two or three centuries they lived beside the Catholic villages without conflict, and for a good part of that time they did it by pretending: they went to mass, they had their children baptised in church, and in private they kept their own faith and about every two years received a travelling preacher. Then, in 1532, at a synod in Piedmont, they decided to say openly what they believed, and sent a man to Geneva to ask for pastors.
Cardinal Michele Ghislieri, the Grand Inquisitor and future pope Pius V, decreed that the Waldensians of Piedmont and those of Calabria were to be annihilated. At Guardia the repression came inside the old village: most of the population was killed, women and children included, and the few who escaped were forced to convert. The main gate has been called the gate of blood since the night of 5 June 1561. Where the Waldensian temple stood they have set a slab of alpine rock brought from the mountains of Torre Pellice, with the verse of Isaiah cut into it, «consider the rock from which you were hewn», and beneath it a plaque with the hundred and eighteen names. And in the alleys there are still doors with a spyhole that opens only from the outside: the Inquisition imposed them, so that the Dominican friars could check on the private life of the converted.
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📅 Every year, on 30 November
On 30 November Guardia Piemontese celebrates its patron Saint Andrew the Apostle with a Mass and procession; the town preserves a long-standing Occitan linguistic tradition.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Guardia Piemontese, but an easy day trip away.
