‘Italia! Italia!’ Switzerland shaken by jubilant football fans
Thousands of Italian football fans celebrated their team’s victory at Euro 2020 on Sunday night by singing, chanting and honking their way through Swiss cities.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/ts
Português
pt
“Itália! Itália!” Torcedores italianos não deixam a Suíça dormir
Italians are the largest group of foreign residents in Switzerland, making up about 15% of the country’s 2.2 million foreigners. And at midnight on Sunday, after Italy beat England on penalties, it sounded like it.
Just a few seconds after the final whistle, the first fireworks went off in Zurich’s Langstrasse, which quickly turned into the scene of an open-air party bathed in red light. Most revellers were clearly tifosi, as Italian fans are known, toasting Italy’s first European Championship since 1968. Hardly any English fans were to be seen drowning their sorrows, but many people were there not so much for the result as for the party.
No tooting convoys could snake through Langstrasse as the area was closed to traffic, but car horns in Bern, Lausanne and Geneva got a thorough work-out.
Italian fans in Lausanne, who had been watching the final en masse in bars and on big screens in the streets, erupted when goalkeeper Donnarumma saved the last English penalty. Without even waiting for the trophy to be handed over, they gathered in various parts of the city, mainly in the Place de l’Europe, which filled up within minutes. Thousands of people chanted “Italia! Italia!” while waving flags. Fireworks also lit up the sky.
There were similar scenes in Geneva, where the tifosi first moved to a part of the Avenue du Mail, which runs along the Plainpalais. There, crowds cheered and waved to the cars that filed along the road. The police followed the celebrations from a distance but did not have to intervene.
In Bern, this SWI swissinfo.ch journalist can attest that Italians in the Swiss capital did not let the side down, driving around well into the early hours.
More
More
When ‘old’ immigrants help ‘new’ ones
This content was published on
An Italian immigrant community is helping newly arrived Eritreans find their way in Switzerland.
First large-scale alpine solar plant approved in Switzerland
This content was published on
The approval was met with satisfaction by the project's organisers, but it also brings with it a certain amount of pressure.
Medieval squirrels may have ‘helped spread leprosy’
This content was published on
An examination of squirrel remains in the United Kingdom has opened up interesting questions and possibilities in terms of the history of the disease.
Swiss money laundering office registers record number of reports
This content was published on
The Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) registered a record number of reports of suspicious activity last year.
Two teens accused of planning terror attack released from custody
This content was published on
The Schaffhausen judiciary has released the two teenagers from custody who allegedly planned bomb attacks in Switzerland.
This content was published on
During the economic boom that followed the Second World War, there was a labour shortage in Switzerland. A decision was made to recruit foreign workers, and in 1948 Switzerland signed a recruitment contract with Italy. Switzerland’s goal was clear: increase the number of workers without allowing them to settle permanently. The regulations were tough: the…
This content was published on
Although they are acknowledged to have had a significant influence on Swiss economic, social and cultural life, they are not yet fully integrated. “Switzerland would not have achieved its present economic position without the contribution of the Italian labour force,” said Claudio Micheloni, the Italian-born general secretary of the Forum for the Integration of Migrants.…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.