A new interdisciplinary publication on communication routes and mobility in the Pinerolese valleys

On Saturday, November 16th, the book "Communication and Mobility Routes in the Chisone, Germanasca, and Pellice Valleys" was presented. It was published by Lareditore and the Valdesian Studies Society, with the endorsement of the City of Pinerolo, the Diocese of Pinerolo, and the Management Body of the Cozie Alps Protected Areas.

The event was organized by the Pinerolese Historical Society and attracted a large audience. Besides the book's editor, Marco Fratini from the Valdesian Studies Society, three professors from the humanities faculties of the University of Turin also spoke: Andrea Balbo, Paola Bianchi, and Luigi Provero.
Bruno Usseglio, a park ranger with Parks of the Cozie Alps, collaborated on the publication with two contributions and stated: "During the meeting, the merits of this publication were highlighted: texts that serve as a reference point for the coming years, a multidisciplinary work that has brought together the university and the local area, different keys to access to read the same region. Furthermore, the various essays allow us to dismantle the concept of peripherality that has often characterized the valleys. Moreover, this is not just a book that represents a final point but rather opens up to new and stimulating investigations. The reflections also touched on broader themes: focusing on details does not mean doing local history as if it were to be understood in a derogatory sense, but it is simply an expression of a change in perspective, observing from a different point of view, a continuous expansion and closure of attention. The "Percorsi" group, welcomed as a committee within the Valdesian Studies Society, has identified a direction for research and dialogue with other entities that is certainly challenging but at the same time enriching for the entire region. The Park Authority wishes all the researchers involved now and in the future good work.

Situated in western Piedmont on the border with France, the Chisone, Germanasca, and Pellice valleys are studied in this book from the perspective of communication routes and mobility of people, goods, and ideas.
The absence of major communication axes with the other alpine side did not prevent the inhabitants from developing other routes, which are analyzed here over a long period, from antiquity to the present.
In addition to transalpine transit, there emerges a dense network of valley, inter-valley, and plain communication routes. Examined with different scales and thematic approaches, it shows phases of continuity and discontinuity, in relation to the territory’s morphology and human uses.
The circulation of people, ideas, and professions, commercial transits and migratory flows, movements of armies, and border controls are just some of the aspects that emerge from the close observation of the territory.
Fifteen essays, accompanied by an extensive cartographic and iconographic apparatus, aim to exploit the potential of an interdisciplinary approach.

Title: Communication and Mobility Routes in the Chisone, Germanasca, and Pellice Valleys
Authors: Various Authors, text curated by Marco Fratini
Publisher: LAR Editore
Year: 2024

Table of Contents
Foreword
Maria Luisa Sturani (University of Turin)
Introduction
Marco Fratini (Valdesian Studies Society)
The Valleys of Pinerolo: a brief geological-descriptive overview
Federico Magrì (independent researcher), Marco Barbero, Elisabetta Arri (Geoalpi Consulting – Geologici Associati)
Exchange routes and cultural relationships in the Prehistory and Protohistory of the alpine valleys around Pinerolo
Luisa Ferrero (Ministry of Culture – Superintendence of Archaeology Fine Arts and Landscape for the Metropolitan City of Turin), Stefania Padovan (Management Body of the Maritime Alps Protected Areas; Prehistory Museum Laboratory of Vaie - TO)
Medieval traces on the ancient route of the San Martino valley
Paolo Demeglio (Specialization School in Architectural and Landscape Assets, Polytechnic University of Turin), Ettore Peyronel (Valdesian Studies Society), Massimiliano Ribet (independent researcher)
Models of mobility and landscape archaeology in medieval San Martino valley: the Least Cost Path Analysis
Giacomo Rosso (University of Turin)
Reconstruction of transhumance routes in the Pinerolo valleys between the Middle Ages and the modern age: The Alps of the abbeys
Chiara Mascarello (independent researcher)
Mobility of the Valdesians in the Valleys in the Middle Ages
Marco Fratini, Daniele Tron (Valdesian Studies Society)
Circulation and establishment of clerics in the Pellice, Chisone, and Germanasca valleys in the late Middle Ages
Paolo Rosso (University of Turin)
Painters' itineraries in medieval Pinerolo. New reflections on the activity of city workshops on both sides of the Alps
Simone Bonicatto (University of Geneva)
From the mountaintops to the Savoy palaces. The marble road of Rocca Bianca in San Martino valley between the 15th and 16th century
Ettore Peyronel (Valdesian Studies Society)
The exile routes of Valdesians from Piedmont and the Dauphiné (1685-1730)
Albert de Lange (Waldensian Museum Schönenberg)
Alpine roads between the Valdesian Valleys and France in the Description of the passages found in the Alps separating Piedmont from France by Captain Jean Baptiste Rouzier
Eugenio Garoglio (University of Eastern Piedmont)
Access routes to the Pellice valley between the 17th and 18th centuries
Luca Malan (Valdesian Studies Society)
Mountaineering routes
Bruno Usseglio (Management Body of the Cozie Alps Protected Areas)
Military roads between the 19th and 20th centuries
Bruno Usseglio (Management Body of the Cozie Alps Protected Areas)
Continuity (and distance) between the Occitan variety of the Germanasca valley and neighboring varieties
Aline Pons (University of Aosta Valley)
Index of place names and Index of personal names
Marco Fratini and Luca Malan (Valdesian Studies Society)