Colonia Valdense is a small city located in southwestern

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, within the Colonia Department. It is home to around 3,200 people.

Geography

It lies along Route 1, west of

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

and about west of its intersection with Route 51.

History

Colonia Valdense was founded in 1856 (officially as "Valdense"), following the arrival of Italian immigrants from

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, especially from the Waldensian Valleys and the

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

. The town is named after Pierre Valdo, a French merchant, founder of the religious movement known as " The Waldensians". The

Waldensian Evangelical Church The Waldensian Evangelical Church (''Chiesa Evangelica Valdese'', CEV) is a Protestant denomination active in Italy and Switzerland that was independent until it united with the Methodist Evangelical Church in Italy in the Union of Methodist and ...

, which is now a Protestant church, has a strong presence here.

Language

Spoken dialect was the

Patois ''Patois'' (, same or ) is speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, ''patois'' can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or sl ...

, which was an

occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

dialect spoken in the town of Villar Pellice in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

from where the settlers were originated. The dialect was spoken mainly in the Colonia Department, where the first pilgrims settled, in the city called La Paz, Colonia. Today it is considered a dead language, although some elders at the mentioned location still practice it. There are still written tracts of the language in the

Waldensians The Waldensians, also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi, or Vaudois, are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the Poor of Lyon in the l ...

Library (Biblioteca Valdense) in the town of Colonia Valdense, Colonia Department.

speaker arrived to Uruguay from the

. They were

, members of the oldest Protestant church in Italy, giving their name to the city Colonia Valdense which translated from the Spanish means

Colony. Its status was elevated to "Pueblo" (village) on 6 November 1951 by the Act of Ley N° 11.742. On 24 September 1982, it was renamed to "Colonia Valdense" and its status was elevated to "Ciudad" (city) by the Act of Decreto-Ley N° 15.323.

Population

According to the 2011 census, Colonia Valdense had a population of 3,235. Source: ''Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Uruguay''

Notable citizens

From 1936 to 1979, Annemarie Rübens, a German social activist lived in Colonia Valdense. Having fled from

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, she founded a rural homestead for refugee children who were victims of the Nazi regime, called Casa Rubens. Later it was a daycare center for sons and daughters of political

detainees Detention is the process whereby a State (polity), state or private citizen holds a person by removing or restricting their personal freedom, freedom or liberty at that time. Detention can be due to (pending) criminal charges against the indivi ...

, until Rübens was prohibited to return during the dictatorship in Uruguay. In 2016, the street in Colonia Valdense where Rübens had lived and given shelter to many children, was renamed after Ana María Rübens as a tribute to her life.

Places of worship

* Waldensian Temple (

)Colonia Valdense
* Our Lady of Fatima Chapel (

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

)

Twin towns

Luserna San Giovanni Luserna San Giovanni (Occitan language, Occitan: ''Luzerna e San Jan'', Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''Luserna e San Gioann'', French: Lucerne Saint-Jean) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italy, Italia ...

References

External links

Information about Colonia Valdense at ''Multimedia Uruguay portal cultural''

INE map of Colonia ValdenseLinguistic Book
published by

University of the Republic (Uruguay) The University of the Republic (, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is a public university, public research university in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is the country's oldest and largest university, as well as one of the largest public universities in South Amer ...

* {{Authority control Populated places established in 1856 Populated places in the Colonia Department Waldensianism