"NIDUS HERETICORUM"
Roccavione, near Cuneo was a “Nidus hereticorum”, since the time when the Crusaders and Inquisitors expelled the Catharists and Waldensians from the Languedoc lands. Certain scholars in fact believe Roccavione to be legendary cradle of heresy: it was from here that Marcus was believe to have departed, the first Bishop of the Italian catharist church who participated in the Council of Saint Felix de Lauragais. Roccavione was in fact strategically positioned along the road of the Tenda Pass, which was the most commonly used route of the fugitives. Anselmo d’Aleesandria was quoted as saying (Roccavione, a village near Cuneo, in which Catharists from France settled).Both Catharists and Waldensians having persecution in common, and therefore found themselves on the same routes of exile.One of the few catharist manuscripts (the “Manuscript of Dublin”) was actually found in the Italian provençal valleys, in the archives of the Waldensian church.