Civil Liberties in 1848

For the entire 18th Century the Waldensians were confined to their territory in the Waldensian Valleys, more or less as the Jews were to their ghetto, as objects of discriminatory legislation that treated them as second-class citizens.

They had to wait until the 17th of February 1848 for the Edict of Emancipation, issued by Carlo Alberto, to receive political and civil rights (Waldensians in the valleys still celebrate this date yearly with huge bonfires).

The Waldensians actively committed themselves to defending the principles of religious freedom and Church-State separation, which they were convinced were important to the political and social renewal of the country. They continued to defend themselves from the Risorgimento (the movement for national unity from 1848 to 1870) through the resistance against Fascism and even into the democratic system granted by the Italian Constitution in 1948. In particular, at the end of the Papal State in 1870 and with the unity of Italy, the Waldensian Church was allowed to preach the Gospel in all of Italy. Thereafter, important Waldensian churches and centers were started also in central and southern Italy. Currently the Waldensian Church (http://www.chiesavaldese.org/pages/contatti/dove_trovarci.php) is spread throughout the nation but still today approximately half of the Waldensians are concentrated in the historical valleys of the Piedmont.