Rorà, its economy, its people

Giorgio Tourn, historian and Waldensian shepherd, briefly tells the story of Rorà, a village in Val Pellice. Rorà today has just over 200 inhabitants due to the depopulation that has affected all the mountain villages. The maximum population peak ever reached was 600. The area is mountainous, so agricultural activity has always been scarce due to the clayey and sandy soil. The two main activities that in the past characterized Rorà were the cultivation of lime and the extraction of a stone used to make the roofs. This characteristic stone is already found in nature divided into slabs, and has a very high quality, to the point that it was also chosen to make the flooring of the Dubai Museum. The extraction of lime, however, is no longer practiced. Today the main activity is tourism, combined with organic farming. Religion was also important to the community of Rorà, since in the Middle Ages there lived a large community of Waldensians.