The Foundation's

premises

The building was erected in the 1920s in memory of Evangelical people fallen inthe First World War as attested by the memorial plaque in the entrance hall of the building. It was first a boarding school with special attention to Waldensian students but also open to everyone else. In the years following the end of World War II an in-door swimming pool was added thanks to a donation by a former students, Adriano Olivetti. Many years later, the CIOV (Commission for Waldensian Hospitals) got part of the building on lease for its administration offices.
In 1999 the Tavola Valdese (Waldensian administration board) set up the Waldensian Cultural Centre Foundation. The building was renovated to create new room for the historical museum, the ethnographic museum of the Waldensian Valleys, the libraries and the historical and photographic archives. A hall for the collection of the artist Paolo Paschetto and other contemporary art exhibitions was also situated there. The renovation work lasted a year, and in 1989 the historical museum, the library and the Waldensian Cultural Centre were ready for opening. Many friends from similar Protestant institutions and important figures in Italian and Piedmontese government and public administration gathered together for the opening day. In 1991 the ethnographic section of the museum opened, and on this occasion Torre Pellice hosted the first meeting of European Protestant museums. In 1998, on the 150th anniversary of the concession of the civil rights to Jews and Waldensians, the archives of the Tavola Valdese were also moved into the building.
In 2006 the Ippolito archaeological collection opened in the Paschetto Hall. It was a gift from the Marquis Ippolito to the Tavola Valdese.

PDF attachments

• Waldensian quarter

Picture gallery

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