Hello everybody! Nice to see you again!
Today we are back in Pradeltorno, in the municipality of Angrogna (Turin), ‘cause this village is famous not only for its peculiar Waldensian temple and for the school of “Barba” (of medieval orgin), but also due to some famous legends about an extraordinary treasure hidden right here.
In the past (but still at the beginning of the 20th century) many adventurers came here trying to search their fortune abroad. In fact, throughout all of Waldensian valleys there are many legends talking about hidden treasures…
Very often it is told here about legendary treasures that fairies (here called “fantine”) used to hide in the rocks, far from human beings’ nosey eyes; other times it is suspected that it’s about family treasures that Waldenses hid during religious persecutions (especially during the ones happened in 1686).
Once it was thought, for example, that the rock which the village of Pradeltorno stands on was linked to the underlying stream Angrogna by an underground tunnel, and that this would lead to two rooms full of silver and gold, with a walled-up entrance (unfortunately…).
It is also said that one day an old farmer sought out the famous gallery and he found inside there a package wrapped in newspaper… from a tear in the paper he could see its content: a valuable roll of copper sheets! The man could not believe his luck, so he took the pack over his shoulder and went immediately to the valley to sell his treasure.
The coppersmith that bought the roll from the farmer did not even care about checking it, since (having assessed the value of the copper from the leaf coming out of the pack) he thought he had already done a great deal.
A few days later the package was sent to a famous manufacturer of pots in Turin.
The man had time to inspect the goods only in the evening, when he came back home from work. You can just imagine how surprised he was when he removed the newspaper and realized that, under a thin layer of copper, there was an entire block of pure gold!
The manufacturer, who became incredibly rich in just one night, wrote to the coppersmith: “Thanks to you now I can live in luxury and I can have a wonderful two-horse carriage … please give me another roll like that, so I can buy a four-horse carriage and I could hire you as my coachman!”
He then attached a reward for the coppersmith and a generous tip for the farmer from Pradeltorno …
…but since that day somebody is still searching for the second roll of copper!
How to get here:
reach Pradeltorno (district of Angrogna) coming from Torre Pellice and, once you leave the Provincial Street 161 entering the town, take Generale Martinat Street right before the bridge on Angrogna creek.
Go through the whole street and you’ll reach the hamlet known as Chiot dl’Aiga, then take the road on your left (Pradeltorno Street) that takes to the valley bottom.
Do you want to read the tale in Italian ?