The Reformation

The Waldensian movement joined the newly initiated European Reformation in 1532. Local preachers led their worship services and celebrated the sacraments. From that time, the church became Protestant in the Presbyterian and Calvinist tradition.

But the persecution was not over. Particularly tragic were the massacres of 1655, known as the “Piedmont Easter”, which raised indignant protests in Europe and caused Cromwell’s England to take action. The celebrated poet John Milton wrote of it in his ode, “On the Late Massacre in Piedmont”.

Persecution began anew in 1685. The few Waldensian survivors in Piedmont remained committed to their faith but had to take shelter in Switzerland. Only four years later, in 1689, they were able to re-enter their valleys. It was for them, the “Glorious Return”: a community of people composed also of women, the elderly and children, which crossed the Alps, driven not only by the tie to their own land, but also by their vocation of freedom to witness to their Protestant faith.