Stock Photo - Torre Pellice is a town and municipality in the Piedmont region of 4543 inhabitants. Torre Pellice was the capital of the three historic Waldensian valleys in the Cottic Alps (Val Pellice, Val Chisone and Valle Germanasca) and is still the centre of the Chiesa Valdese italiana, the (Protestant) Waldensian Church of Italy. The Waldensians are a Protestant church that is still widespread in Italy and some countries in South America. Originally founded as a community of religious lay people at the end of the 12th century by the Lyon merchant Petrus Valdes They preached apostolic poverty and were excluded from the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages and persecuted as heretics by the Inquisition. The churches are very simple and have neither the altar nor the cross.