{"id":2110,"date":"2016-08-26T14:00:17","date_gmt":"2016-08-26T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valdesina.it\/?p=2110"},"modified":"2016-08-26T09:48:11","modified_gmt":"2016-08-26T07:48:11","slug":"2110","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/2016\/08\/26\/2110\/","title":{"rendered":"Balziglia – Massello"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello kids, how are you?
\nWelcome back!
\n Today is August 26<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>, a very important date in Waldensian history<\/a>, since today (327 years ago!) a group of brave people from the valleys moved from Switzerland, where they had been exiled, to try to turn back to their places and homelands that they had been forced to leave for their faith\u2026 today is the anniversary of the beginning of the Glorious Return!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"balziglia_1\"<\/a>
Here I am at the Balziglia!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I already told you about this great adventure when we visited the Sibaud<\/a> of Bobbio and the temple of Prali<\/a>, but today I want to take you to a very symbolic place for that historical event, which is called \u201cBalziglia\u201d, in the municipality of Massello (Turin).
\nIn winter of 1689-90, Waldensians who had survived the march through the mountains camped, led by the clever pastor Henri Arnaud, in these woods, surrounded by the French and Savoy army\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Merci, Mademoiselle, for considering me clever, but we chose this place to resist the enemy because the great Captain Gianavello<\/a> had suggested it!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026but \u2026is it really you? You are pastor Arnaud, aren\u2019t you?! Are you here to tell my little friends how things went?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Why not? I know some others you met (Gianavello<\/a> and Beckwith<\/a>) did it before me, so\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"balziglia_2\"<\/a>
I can not wait to hear the events of the Balziglia told by pastor Arnaud!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

You see, we found refuge here, as old Gianavello,(who was exiled in Switzerland, but gave us a great help in organizing our challenge) had recommended us. In fact it was a great place, opponents tried several times in the fall to imprison us, but they never succeeded. \u2026on the other side, imagine how hard it was living up here for a whole winter, without food or home, with clothes and shoes destroyed by the march through the mountains …<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026and how did you survive?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I might tell you that faith kept us alive, as it undoubtedly was. Unfortunately we were forced, in some cases, to steal something to the local inhabitants … But one day, thank God, we discovered that no one had harvested the wheat during the previous summer, and that it was still under the snow: so we picked it up and with that we were able to survive until spring!<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"balziglia_3\"<\/a>
D\u2019you see the millstone which pastor Arnaud stands on? Well, thanks to that stone Waldenses were able to grind wheat found under the snow and they could survive the harsh winter of the Germanasca Valley…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the spring the Savoy-French army started again to besiege Waldensians, by using cannons and destroying all of the fortifications that had been built during the winter.
\nWaldensians were no more than 300, and on May 24<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/sup>, 1690 they found themselves surrounded by 4000 opponent soldiers… After the first violent clashes, on the Sugar Loaf (in Italian \u201cPan di Zucchero\u201d, the so called peak that stands above the Balziglia) a thick fog that forced everyone to stop the battle dropped.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Exactement, my dear! And while we were discussing about that desperate situation the night fell …
\nAll around us there were enemy campfires, we were trapped. But then one of ours, Captain Philip Tron Poulat, who was born at the Balziglia and that, as a child, had always carried grazing animals around here, suggested to take a dangerous path that could pull us to safety.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"balziglia_4\"<\/a>
On the banks of the stream Ghinivert, where Waldenses hid during the Glorious Return.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, in the middle of the night, all of the survived Waldensian walked in line, holding hands or clothes in the dark, and passed through the enemy camp without being caught.
\nWhen in the morning the Savoy-French soldiers got ready to reach the top of the Sugar Loaf and capture the enemies, they could only see the fugitives on the high mountain ridge, too far to be reached …<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Oui, mademoiselle Valdesina, you are right \u2026 who can say if the wheat under the snow or the thick and sudden fog of that day were just lucky chances or the signs that we were destined to return to our valleys?<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"balziglia_5\"<\/a>
As the sun sets behind the Sugar Loaf, I think of that fascinating place is the Balziglia… I’m really looking forward to come back here very soon!!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How to get here:
\n<\/strong>
\nreach the town of Massello along the Provincial Road 169, then continue on Provincial Road 170 till you can: the street ends exactly at the Balziglia hamlet.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello kids, how are you? Welcome back! Today is August 26th, a very important date in Waldensian history, since today (327 years ago!) a group of brave people from the valleys moved from Switzerland, where they had been exiled, to try to turn back to their places and homelands that they had been forced to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[594,524,262,423,271,593,248,250],"tema":[],"area":[],"class_list":["post-2110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senza-categoria-en","tag-balziglia-en","tag-germanasca-valley","tag-glorious-return","tag-henri-arnaud","tag-massello","tag-masselloen","tag-storia-valdese-en","tag-val-germanasca-en"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/balziglia_cover.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2110"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2114,"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2110\/revisions\/2114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2110"},{"taxonomy":"tema","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tema?post=2110"},{"taxonomy":"area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valdesina.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/area?post=2110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}