Pilgrimage, Part III

THIS MORNING WE are headed east to spend a few days in Italy -- mostly in the Torino area. A major reason for our trip is to visit the small mountain village of Torre Pellice, a small village in the Piedmont that is famous for being the original home of the middle-age Christian group called the Waldensians, who were severely persecuted from the 12th century onward for their reform-minded theology. By the 16th century they were firmly following the Protestant Reformation and were considered leaders in the Reform movement. They still exist today.

So why are we going? Kerri's father visited the small village during a European Reformation Tour when he was in college some 40+ years ago and he's always wanted to go back. This is pilgrimage number 3. Our first was with my mother a couple years ago when we visited La Scala, the great opera house in Milan. Because my mother has spend so much of her life as a professor of music, the building was a must-see for her (again -- she'd been there once before). The second was during a 2008 trip to the village of Le Chambon in the massive central part of France. The events that happened in Le Chambon during World War II play a role in my dad's dissertation -- but he had never been there before so it was a great visit for him.