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This is a short summary of the story of Ticinese migrations to Argentina. More information is available on the Italian version of this special (see links). The flow of migrants was encouraged by the government in Buenos Aires, whose policy was to attract European immigrants to colonise and develop the country’s vast hinterland. Because of…
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During a recent trip to Switzerland, the current Lord Mayor, Louise Hyams, exhibited the chain worn by Sir John Gatti, whose great uncle, Carlo Gatti, left his icy mark on the British capital. The title accorded Gatti was in part recognition of the importance to London of his family, who started out very humbly only…
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In an interview with swissinfo, historian Giorgio Cheda explains what drove about one in five Swiss Italians overseas in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Cheda is the author of comprehensive volumes on the migrations to California and Victoria, which include countless letters sent home by emigrants. The full interview can be found in swissinfo’s…
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That is because Cavalli, a native of the Ticino village, Verscio, was a writer by trade as editor of the San Francisco-based, Italian-language newspaper, L’Elvezia. In this extract from an account published in 1890, Cavalli describes an encounter with a group of immigrants travelling by train to California. Into the West I spent the 30…
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In this autobiographical letter he wrote as an old man in 1905, he reflects on the trials and tribulations of attempting to make a life for himself in the New World. There is more than a hint of bitterness in his writing. Unlike the two letters reprinted in the Journey into the Unknown section, Pozzi…
