Occitan, also known as lenga d'òc by its native speakers, sometimes also referred to as Provençal, is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, as well as Spain's Val d'Aran in Catalonia; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitania. It is also spoken in Calabria in a linguistic enclave of Cosenza area. Some include Catalan in Occitan, as the linguistic distance ("distance") between this language and some Occitan dialects is similar to the distance between different Occitan dialects. Catalan was considered a dialect of Occitan until the end of the 19th century and still today remains its closest relative.
The Waldensians, also known as Waldenses, Vallenses, Valdesi, or Vaudois, are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the Poor of Lyon in the late twelfth century, the movement spread to the Cottian Alps in what is today France and Italy. The founding of the Waldensians is attributed to Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant who gave away his property around 1173, preaching apostolic poverty as the way to perfection.
Provençal is a variety of Occitan, spoken by people in Provence and parts of Drôme and Gard. The term Provençal used to refer to the entire Occitan language, but more recently it has referred only to the variety of Occitan spoken in Provence. However, it can still be found being used to refer to Occitan as a whole, e.g. Merriam-Webster states that it can be used to refer to general Occitan, though this is going out of use.
Piedmontese is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, a region of Northwest Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regarded as an Italian dialect. It is linguistically included in the Gallo-Italic languages group of Northern Italy, which would make it part of the wider western group of Romance languages, which also includes French, Occitan, and Catalan. It is spoken in the core of Piedmont, in northwestern Liguria, and in Lombardy.
Occitania is the historical region in Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasses much of the southern third of France as well as part of Spain, Monaco, and parts of Italy.
Pinerolo is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, northwestern Italy, 40 kilometres (25 mi) southwest of Turin on the river Chisone. The Lemina torrent has its source at the boundary between Pinerolo and San Pietro Val di Lemina.
Niçard, nissart/Niçart, niçois, or nizzardo is the dialect that was historically spoken in the city of Nice, in France, and in a few surrounding communes. Niçard is generally considered a subdialect of Provençal, itself a dialect of Occitan. Some Italian irredentists have claimed it as a Ligurian dialect.
The languages of Italy include Italian, which serves as the country's national language, in its standard and regional forms, as well as numerous local and regional languages, most of which, like Italian, belong to the broader Romance group. The majority of languages often labeled as regional are distributed in a continuum across the regions' administrative boundaries, with speakers from one locale within a single region being typically aware of the features distinguishing their own variety from others spoken nearby.
The Gallo-Italic, Gallo-Italian, Gallo-Cisalpine or simply Cisalpine languages constitute the majority of the Romance languages of northern Italy: Piedmontese, Lombard, Emilian, Ligurian, and Romagnol. In central Italy they are spoken in the northern Marches ; in southern Italy in some language islands in Basilicata and Sicily.
Guardia Piemontese is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza and the region of Calabria in southern Italy.
Angrogna is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 45 kilometres (28 mi) southwest of Turin.
Luserna San Giovanni is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located in the Val Pellice about 45 kilometres (28 mi) southwest of Turin.
Vivaro-Alpine is a variety of Occitan spoken in southeastern France and northwestern Italy. There is also a small Vivaro-Alpine enclave in the Guardia Piemontese, Calabria, where the language is known as gardiòl. It belongs to the Northern Occitan dialect bloc, along with Auvergnat and Limousin. The name “vivaro-alpine” was coined by Pierre Bec in the 1970s. The Vivaro-Alpine dialects are traditionally called "gavot" from the Maritime Alps to the Hautes-Alpes.
The Chisone is a 53-kilometre (33 mi) Italian torrent, which runs through Pragelato, Fenestrelle, Perosa Argentina and Pinerolo in the Metropolitan City of Turin. It is a tributary of the Pellice, which in turn is a tributary of the river Po. Although classified as a torrent, there is no period of the year at which the Chisone runs dry.
Western Romance languages are one of the two subdivisions of a proposed subdivision of the Romance languages based on the La Spezia–Rimini Line. They include the Gallo-Romance, Occitano-Romance and Iberian Romance branches. Gallo-Italic may also be included. The subdivision is based mainly on the use of the "s" for pluralization, the weakening of some consonants and the pronunciation of "Soft C" as /t͡s/ rather than /t͡ʃ/ as in Italian and Romanian.
John Charles Beckwith (1789–1862) was a British army officer who was born in Nova Scotia. He is best remembered for being injured in the Battle of Waterloo and for his charity work and philanthropy among the Waldensians of northern Italy.
Protestantism in Italy comprises a minority of the country's religious population.
Emilio Comba (1839–1904) was a celebrated Waldensian pastor and historian, he was born in San Germano Chisone, Piedmont, Italy.
Colonia Valdense is a small city located in southwestern Uruguay, within the Colonia Department. It is home to around 3,200 people.
The Anarchist-Communist Federation of Occitania was an Occitan anarchist communist organisation, founded by Guy Malouvier, which operated in Occitania from 1969 to 1976.
