GUARDIA PIEMONTESE
In the narrow back alleys of the Calabrian village of Guardia Piemontese, the children play and shout in a curious Southern Occitan accent. This village was inhabited from between XIV and XV centuries by the Waldensians of Briançon and of the Varaita and Pellice valleys, called on by the local feudal lords for the cultivation of abandoned land, the village has conserved its Occitan language and traditions for centuries. In the late XVI centuries its inhabitants were exterminated, accused of being heretics, and the reminder of these persecutions has been handed down through the generations. The women of Guardia wear a costume reminiscent of the styles of the Varaita and Pellice valleys which is defined as an «ultra-mountain» costume.