In the Piedmont Valley where the Church had its beginnings in Italy 141 years ago, one Latter-day Saint family today lives in this colorful city.

Torre Pellice was the center of the missionary work in the 1850s among a people known as the Waldenses, who lived in the mountain villages here. In fact, it was here that Italy was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel in 1850 by Elder Lorenzo Snow.Among Church members, the dedication site is called "Mount Brigham."

Gianni and Bruna Berzano D'Amore and their daughter, Cinzia, 15, and son, Elsy, 14, are the only members of the Church in Torre Pellice. For the past nine years, they have been active in the Torino Branch at Siracusa Street, where Gianni is branch clerk. The D'Amores travel about 30 miles to Torino to attend meetings.

"It is exciting to live in the area where the Church was started in Italy," he reflected. "We often take missionaries or visitors to Mount Brigham where President Snow dedicated the land.

"Growth has not been great, but big blessings have come to our lives. We have been able to go to the temple, a five-hour drive through the Alps to Switzerland."

Cinzia, who has studied English for six years in school, talks to her friends about the Church.

"The Church is important in our life," she explained. "Many people don't have the blessings we have. I am the only Mormon in my school. When a new teacher comes, the students tell her, `There's a Mormon in here.' The teacher wants to know what a Mormon is and so I tell her. In school, we are required to study religion for one hour each week. Those of us who are not Catholic have alternate study."

Elsy is a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood. "I prepare and then pass the sacrament most every Sunday," he said with a smile. "And," he added, "they keep calling on me to give talks, too."

The missionaries met Brother D'Amore in Torino, where he works as a graphics artist for a large printing company.

"I knew of the Church because my sister-in-law was a member, but I didn't know about it," Brother D'Amore said. "The missionaries made friends with me, and we talked a lot. The thing that really attracted me was family history. When I found the Church was interested in family history, I paid attention, and soon we accepted the gospel.

By doing so, they became a part of the Church's heritage in Italy.

In 1850, Elder Lorenzo Snow was called to introduce the gospel to the people of Italy. He and other missionaries labored in other parts of the country but were unsuccessful.

Reporting that spiritual darkness and hostile law had hampered the work in Italy, he wrote, "No probable opening appeared in any of the cities of Italy - except it be among the Waldenses."

The Waldensian congregations, quartered here in the rugged mountains of northern Italy, had been a Protestant center of spiritual reform for centuries. Even then, however, they suffered death and martyrdom under the hands of military and religious armies. Ever since the Middle Ages they had known the flames of the stake and the sting of persecution.

It wasn't until Feb. 17, 1848, that, civil freedom and equal rights through the Edict of Emancipation brought relief. Less than two years after this new freedom, Elder Snow, joined by Elders Thomas B. H. Stenhouse and Joseph Toronto, began missionary work in the Piedmont Valley. Soon, Elder Jabez Woodard was appointed to the area.

On. Sept. 19, 1850, the four elders, each representing a different nation, climbed Mount Vandelino, which is marked by a bold projecting rock and situated a little northwest of Torre Pellice. Here they followed the pattern of singing hymns and offering prayers. After dedicating the land, they organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy. Elder Snow was sustained as president and Elder Stenhouse as secretary. Elder Snow proposed that the mountain upon which they stood be called Mount Brigham and the projecting rock, the "Rock of Prophecy."

The work progressed immediately. On Oct. 27, 1850, the first baptism took place when J. A. Buse of Latour entered the water.

Later, Elder Woodard wrote the following: "On Feb. 25, 1851, two young men presented themselves for baptism. It rained and snowed again, and the atmosphere was so dense that we could not see distinctly a little way ahead. The clouds were suddenly rent asunder as if they had been a sheet of paper, and the side of Mount Brigham was visible in a moment, from top to the bottom. The vail [sicT of Italy has burst."

One of these young men was John Daniel Malan Jr. The next day his parents and eight of his brothers and sisters were baptized in the icy Angrogna River.

"Ours was the first family to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy," wrote Madeleine Malan Farley. "Our father, John Daniel Malan, met Elder Jabez Woodard at LaTour in January 1851, and invited him home, then sent invitations to all our village neighbors to come and hear his message.

"He came the next evening and preached to the same audience. When he was through speaking, our oldest brother, John D., applied for baptism, went to the river Angrogna, broke the ice and was baptized. The elders remained with us and the next day those of the family of suitable age were also baptized."

Four branches of the Church were eventually organized. The first branch was in Angrogna, nearby. But by 1855, most of the members had immigrated to America.