Before narrating my personal adventures in the valleys, I fancy I may
consult the profit of my readers if I give a brief topographical outline of
the district of which La Torre is the chief town. It lies about thirty
miles south-west of Turin, having Mont Viso and the French province of
Dauphiny for its south-western border. Mont Genevre is the extreme point in
the north-westerly direction, and from its sides the boundary of the upper
portions of the valleys turns in a north-easterly direction along that
ridge of the Alps which separates Savoy from Piedmont by the Col de
Sestrieres, Fenestrelle, Perousa, down to the plains, including the valleys
of Pragela, San Martino, Perousa, Angrogna, and Pelice, or Lucerna, and
terminating with the parish of San Giovanni as its most easterly point;
though formerly the Vaudois territories extended to the entire valley of
the Clusone, and they had several churches in the neighbourhood of Susa, as
well as in the principality of Saluzzo to the south-east. However,
persecution and confiscation have now reduced them to a tract which is
about twenty-two miles in its greatest length by a little over sixteen in
its extreme width. Its area may be about three hundred square miles, and as
so large a space is covered with mountains, it imposes considerable
difficulties in the way of productive cultivation. Its population is about
twenty thousand persons, which at one time were almost exclusively
Protestant, but the disabilities imposed on the Vaudois (of which we shall
speak in another chapter) have compelled many of them to leave their native
valleys for France, Germany, America, and other countries, in order to
obtain a livelihood. As regards scenery, it is difficult to describe its
surpassing loveliness, and certainly no exaggeration to say that the
traveller in this district is often favoured by a combination most
delightful, viz., the soft luxuriance of Italy in the lower slopes and
broader valleys, joined with the wildness and grandeur of Switzerland in
the narrower glens and loftier mountain ranges. And this apart from the
wealth of its historic glories. In reference to climate, the valleys of
Pelice, Angrogna, with Perousa, are warm and productive, those of Martino
and Pragela cold and barren. The soil in the mountain parishes yields the
same kind of vegetables and corn as are to be found in our North of England
parishes; the mountain slopes yield pasturage for cattle, and the higher
ridges are covered with the pine, elm, and ash trees. In the lower valleys,
particularly in the parishes of San Giovanni, Lucerna, La Torre, you will
observe the chestnut, mulberry, and the vine. As to roads and means of
communication, there is nothing to complain of, particularly from the month
of June to September; though I found it so hot in the month of April as to
be obliged to stay in-doors from noon to about four o'clock in the
afternoon. As to accommodation for travellers, I can speak well of the Bear
Hotel at La Torre; and I have read a good account of the Sun at Perousa, as
likewise the Red Rose at Fenestrelle, for passing travellers. Having given
the above with a view of answering questions often asked, especially by
intending tourists, I return to the story of my own observations in La
Torre. The place is not unlike other small towns in the Swiss cantons.
There are a fair sprinkling of shops, with post-office, town-hall, and
market-place. In the centre of the latter I observed a prominent sun-dial,
with the following very appropriate motto, _Vita fugit sicut umbra_.