Pra La Gesia – Rorà

Hi there!
Today we are in a very nice field in the township of Rorà, in Pellice Valley; this place is known as Pra La Gesia (“field of the church”), or – as it was called in ancient times – San Nicolao, since right here there used to stand a catholic church (according to others, a convent).

In 1600 also in Rorà, like in many other places in Waldensian Valleys, missionaries arrived aiming to convert Waldenses to Catholic confession. There was, right here, a convent of Capuchin monks, who did not succeed in their intent… On the contrary, it is told that after one year women from the town, who were used to carry heavy loads, took all of the church-men on their shoulders and chased them out of the borders of Rorà.

The only still existing hint about the existance of an ancient church in this area is a holy water font which is actually stored at the Waldensian Museum of Rorà.

At that time, no-one was allowed to move violence towards church-men, but this law was not worth for women: so the braveful women of Rorà carried over the borders of their town also relics, luggages and all of the furniture belonging to monks who could not do anything but going back from to where they had come from!

According to some rumours, the stones of the old church that stood here were later on used to build the nearby house known as the Vernarèa (litterally, “the place of the alders”).

Do you want to read the tale in Italian ?