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The Maira Valley belongs to the Occitan
territory, which in Italy includes approximately 20 Provinces in the
Provinces of Turin, Cuneo, Imperia and Cosenza. In France there are
the 7 southern historical Regions and in Spain there is the Valley
of Aran.
This territory has never known a political unit and it has never been
constituted as autonomous. It is characterized therefore only from
a language and from a culture common: in the Maira Valley, as in the
whole Occitan territory, the legends and the oral traditions are numerous,
reported in the local dialect. They tell about “masche”,
good witches and “sarvan”. Latter are strange characters
partly men and partly animals, who animated the woods. According to
the tradition, these creatures brightened or frightened the inhabitants
of the villages, which spent the long winter evenings in the stalls,
to protect themselves from the cold and to rest after the hard work.
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