Etape 6 - Refuge Jervis – Villanova – Bobbio Pellice

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# Val Pellice
Valle Pellice or Val Pellice in Italian, or ‘le Val Pellice’ in French, is a valley in the Cottian Alps in the former province of Turin. It lies to the north of Mont-Viso and borders Haut-Guil. It owes its name to the Torrent Pellice, which flows through it from the heights of Mont Granero (3,170 m) in the Cottian Alps. It is the largest of the three Waldensian Valleys.
The lower valley as far as Bobbio Pellice, open to the east, is the main residential area with many farms. The area closes off as soon as you leave Bobbio at an altitude of 750 metres, and the valley becomes increasingly wild Most hamlets, borgata, are abandoned and there are many ruins.
The borgata of Villeneuve, Villanova, is the highest, at just 1,250 metres above sea level, and was once home to a Carabinieri barracks. Today, it is the starting point for climbs to the refuges and hikes over the passes to the neighbouring Queyras.

# Torre Pellice
Torre Pellice is the best-known municipality in the Val Pellice. It is the main seat of the Waldensian Evangelical Church's institutions, in particular the Waldensian House (Casa valdese), where the Waldensian Synod meets, the Waldensian Temple and the Waldensian Cultural Centre, which houses the museum and library.
All these buildings, which date back from the second half of the nineteenth century or the beginning of the twentieth, are grouped together along the Via Beckwith, named after John Charles Beckwith, an English general who helped finance the Waldensian Quarter and several schools in the villages of the three valleys.

# Waldensian Cultural Centre
The Fondation Centre culturel vaudois was created in 1989, bringing together under a single management the rich historical and cultural heritage that was, at the time, scattered around the region, with the aim of making the library, museum, archives and collections available to a wider public.
Located in the heart of the Vaud valleys, the Foundation is located in a border area and, in the context of a Europe under construction, is seeking to be a place of encounter and exchange in a spirit of cultural pluralism.
Book in advance and take a guided tour of the museum, the temple and the historic sites of the Waldensian valleys (in different languages)."

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