Someo
Encyclopedia
Vallemaggia (district)
The district of Vallemaggia is a district of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It has a population of . The capital of the district is Cevio.-Geography:...
in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
The municipality had 258 inhabitants in 2003. The municipality had an area of 32.73 km².
In 2004 the municipality was incorporated into the larger, neighboring municipality Maggia.
In the XIX century many inhabitants migrated to France, England, California and Australia. Antonio Tognazzini founded the town Someo (now Casmalia) to honour the village of origin of his family.
The aspiration to find new opportunities abroad was widespread in some cantons of Switzerland, in particular Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
, Fribourg and Valais
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
.
Italian-Swiss Emigration =
The people of the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
had often to migrate because the local resources were insufficient to sustain the entire population.
The migration was mainly seasonal or temporary. One could work during the summer in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
or other Italian Cities and then go home for winter (or vice versa). With the development of transportation we find Italian-Swiss (or Ticinese, i.e. from Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
, as they will be called here) in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the Netherlands and other Western European states. In these nations the stay was often longer than a year and eventually definitive.
Emigration to Europe
For several centuries the Italian Peninsula was the main and often unique destination of the seasonal emigration. For longer periods the migrants went to France, England, the Netherlands and other European states.In the construction sector, the Ticinese were masons, stonecutters, site foremen, stucco workers and sculptors. During the Middle Age
Middle age
Middle age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. Various attempts have been made to define this age, which is around the third quarter of the average life span of human beings....
, the Comacine masters
Comacine masters
The early medieval Lombard Comacine masters were stonemasons working in a region of excellent building stone who gave to Lombardy its preeminence in the stone architecture that preceded Romanesque style.-Comacini:...
were the most famous artists from Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
and the Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
. In the XVI century the architects Domenico Fontana
Domenico Fontana
Domenico Fontana was a Swiss-born Italian architect of the late Renaissance.-Biography:200px|thumb|Fountain of Moses in Rome....
, Carlo Maderno
Carlo Maderno
Carlo Maderno was a Swiss-Italian architect, born in Ticino, who is remembered as one of the fathers of Baroque architecture. His façades of Santa Susanna, St. Peter's Basilica and Sant'Andrea della Valle were of key importance in the evolution of the Italian Baroque...
and Francesco Borromini
Francesco Borromini
Francesco Borromini, byname of Francesco Castelli was an architect from Ticino who, with his contemporaries, Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Pietro da Cortona, was a leading figure in the emergence of Roman Baroque architecture.A keen student of the architecture of Michelangelo and the ruins of...
work in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and other Italian Cities. Later, Domenico Trezzini
Domenico Trezzini
Domenico Trezzini was a Swiss Italian architect who elaborated the Petrine Baroque style of Russian architecture.Domenico was born in Astano, near Lugano, in the Italian-speaking Ticino . He probably studied in Rome...
, Antonio Adamini, Domenico Gilardi, Giorgio Ruggia and others architects from Ticino built churches and buildings in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
The people from the Blenio
Blenio (district)
The district of Blenio is a district of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It has a population of . The capital of the district is Acquarossa.-Geography:...
Valley were chocolate-makers in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, chestnut roasters in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and others European cities, restaurant keepers in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
The Ticinese abroad were also porters, waiters, coppersmiths (from Valcolla
Valcolla
Valcolla is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-Geography:Valcolla has an area, , of . Of this area, or 4.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 51.9% is forested...
), knife-grinders, glaziers (from Claro
Claro
Claro or CLARO may refer to:* Claro, Switzerland, in the canton of Ticino* Claro Americas, a mobile and fixed voice and data comunications company*:Claro Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay*:Claro El Salvador*:Claro Guatemala*:Claro Jamaica...
), brick-makers, chimney sweeps (from Onsernone
Onsernone
Onsernone is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Ticino, near the city of Locarno. The river Isorno runs through this valley.The municipality was created in 1995 by a merger of Comologno, Crana and Russo.-History:...
: small boys were sent scrambling up inside the chimney to scrap and brush soot away).
In the first half of the XIX century, the Ticinese in Italy were about ten thousand and every year more than ten thousand migrated to several European nations. In 1858 the Ticinese registered at the Swiss embassy in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
were nearly eight thousand.
In 1853 general Joseph Radetzky
Joseph Radetzky von Radetz
Johann Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky von Radetz was a Czech nobleman and Austrian general, immortalised by Johann Strauss I's Radetzky March...
, Viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
of Lombardy-Venetia, ordered the deportation of all Ticinese and the closure of the border with Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
. More than six thousand Ticinese were deported. Ticino faced a severe economic crisis because it had to feed all these people without the wheat from Italy. Two years later the order was abolished.
Emigration to California
The emigration of Ticinese to CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in the XIX century started with the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
. Two gold-seekers from Leventina
Leventina (district)
The district of Leventina is one of the eight districts of the largely Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The capital of the district is Faido but the largest town is Airolo at the beginning or at the end of the valley....
were the first migrants. They arrived in San Francisco in 1849. During the following years the number of migrants increased from less than 100 to several hundred. The great majority came from the northern valleys, in particular Valle Maggia
Valle Maggia
Valle Maggia is an alpine valley of the Maggia River in Ticino, the Italian canton of Switzerland.The valley is dotted with small picturesque villages with traditional stone houses, vineyards and dairy farms...
and Valle Leventina. Often the Municipality or the Patriziato (Patriciate) lent the money for the trip. The emigrants had to mortgage theirs properties or to contract a private loan. In the contract signed with an emigration agency the journey and the room and board were specified. They had to take a stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
and often to cross the Gotthard Pass on foot. In Lucerne
Lucerne
Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...
it was possible to take a train.
The departure ports were Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
, Hambourg and Antwerp but sometimes the migrants had to stay in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to work in order to pay the trip to California.
The journey lasted several months because one had to circumnavigate South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
or to disembark in Colón
Colón, Panama
Colón is a sea port on the Caribbean Sea coast of Panama. The city lies near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It is capital of Panama's Colón Province and has traditionally been known as Panama's second city....
and cross the Isthmus of Panama
Isthmus of Panama
The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal...
. The length of the journey from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to San Francisco was greatly shortened when the First Transcontinental Railroad
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
started to operate in 1869.
Business conditions, political and climatic events have affected the number of migrants. For instance, the closure of the border ordered by general Radetzky led to a strong increase in the number of emigrants. The man push factorswere population growth, crop failures, floods, landslides and political turmoil. The main pull factors were the gold rush, availability of farm land, high paying jobs and cheaper transport costs. The American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and economic recessions lowered the number of migrants.
Perret searched state and county records in California, in particular the original files of the American census of 1870 and found 882 Ticinese but the real number was much higher. In 1930 the Swiss Americans
Swiss American
Swiss Americans are Americans of Swiss descent.There are several ethno-linguistic subgroups among Swiss Americans, including Swiss German-speaking, Swiss French-speaking, and Swiss Italian-speaking....
of Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
descent were about twenty thousand. The number of people that went to California is much greater because all the Ticinese that went back home between 1870 and 1930 are not counted in the American Census of 1930.
The great majority of Ticinese were dairy farmers. In their letters to their families back home they explained the everyday hard work. They had to milk about twenty cows using their hands. The ranch was much bigger than an Alpine pasture. In winter they had to work in sawmills or in factories.
Often the migrant started to work as a milker but then with his savings and a bank loan he could buy a small farm. The Swiss American bank was founded in Locarno
Locarno
Locarno is the capital of the Locarno district, located on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore in the Swiss canton of Ticino, close to Ascona at the foot of the Alps. It has a population of about 15,000...
with branches in San Francisco and San Luis Obispo. The emigrants could deposit their savings and transfer some money to Ticino.
There were some miners among the emigrants but what they knew best was to work as a farmer. Some Ticinese were wine-growers (the Italian Swiss Colony was founded by some Swiss and Italian wine-merchants), horticulturists, carpenters, storekeepers, hotelkeepers and pastry-cooks.
The Ticinese founded in San Francisco a mutual aid society, a patriotic society and a journal in Italian with news from Ticino and the colony.
Emigration to the United States ceased after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The second generation assimilated easily and quickly as described by the Melting pot
Melting pot
The melting pot is a metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" into a harmonious whole with a common culture...
phenomenon. “Ticinese
Ticinese
Ticinese is a comprehensive denomination for the varieties of Lombard language spoken in Canton Ticino and in the north of the Province of Varese....
” and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
were no longer spoken and the family connections became more difficult. The descendants are now scattered all over the United States. Family names, street names and tombstones in Catholic cemeteries are the present traces of emigration from Ticino.
A demographic disequilibrium (almost all emigrants were men) was the main negative consequence for the villages in Valle Maggia
Valle Maggia
Valle Maggia is an alpine valley of the Maggia River in Ticino, the Italian canton of Switzerland.The valley is dotted with small picturesque villages with traditional stone houses, vineyards and dairy farms...
. Many women had to take all men jobs and abandon the more difficult pastures. Emigrant remittances helped restore buildings and churches. The rich uncle in America is a popular story in Ticino.
Emigration to Australia
The Australian gold rushAustralian gold rushes
The Australian gold rush started in 1851 when prospector Edward Hammond Hargraves claimed the discovery of payable gold near Bathurst, New South Wales, at a site Edward Hargraves called Ophir.Eight months later, gold was found in Victoria...
in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
started in 1851. Several thousand European and Chinese gold diggers went to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
scratching in the gravel with their pick and shovel.
A miner’s licence had to be paid in advance (30 shillings per month). Tensions between the diggers and the authorities rose quickly. A rebellion was organised resulting in the death of over 30 people.
The first Ticinese gold diggers made a fortune. They encouraged their acquaintances to go to Australia. The journey was dangerous and lasted up to five months. The emigrants had to mortgage theirs properties or to contract a private loan. In the contract signed with an emigration agency the journey and the room and board were specified. Some emigrants were abused by dishonest emigration agencies (wrong arrival port, insufficient food). In 1874 Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
enacted a law to regulate these agencies.
Work in the gold fields was very hard and dangerous. The digger had to scratch from dawn to dusk and the result was highly unsure. Discouragement was widespread. The majority of emigrants came back poorer than before. The representative of Ticino for the Lugano District advised in 1863 against emigration to Australia.
Between 1850 and 1860 about 2300 Ticinese migrated to Australia. The majority came from the northern part of Ticino, in particular the Valle Maggia
Valle Maggia
Valle Maggia is an alpine valley of the Maggia River in Ticino, the Italian canton of Switzerland.The valley is dotted with small picturesque villages with traditional stone houses, vineyards and dairy farms...
. A third of the emigrants remained in Australia but they had to work as farmer, vine-growers, merchants and hotelkeepers. Those staying in the gold fields had to work for mining companies in low-paid and insecure jobs.
The second generation eventually assimilated in Australian society. “Ticinese
Ticinese
Ticinese is a comprehensive denomination for the varieties of Lombard language spoken in Canton Ticino and in the north of the Province of Varese....
” and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
were no longer spoken and the family connections became more difficult. The family ties with Ticino were limited to short stays during a vacation to Europe. Family names and some tombstones in Catholic cemeteries are the present traces of emigration from Ticino.
Australian people of Italian and Italian-speaking Swiss descent gather every year in Hepburn Springs
Hepburn Springs, Victoria
Hepburn Springs is a resort town located in the middle of the largest concentration of mineral springs in Australia. It is in Victoria, 48 km northeast of Ballarat. At the 2006 census, Hepburn Springs had a population of 601 and Hepburn had a population of 375. Total population of...
for the Swiss Italian Fiesta (see Swiss Italians of Australia
Swiss Italians of Australia
Swiss Italians of Australia, are Italian speaking Swiss that settled in Australia during the 1850s and 1860s. The Swiss Italians initially settled in the area around Daylesford, Victoria...
).
Emigration to Argentina
Several Ticinese, in particular from the Southern part of Ticino, took part in the colonization of ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and other South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
countries. The journey to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
with a sailing ship
Sailing ship
The term sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant. In popular usage "ship" became associated with all large...
lasted three months. Later, with a transatlantic steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
the journey was much shorter (one month) and safer.
Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and some Swiss municipalities promoted emigration to South America. A federal office was in charge of all problems related to emigration. Until 1937 a financial aid was granted to settle in Argentina. Moreover, a Swiss Consul in Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
advised the migrants. Some migrants had to be protected from untrustworthy and dishonest emigration agencies.
Argentina opened a consulate in Bellinzona
Bellinzona
Bellinzona is the administrative capital of the canton Ticino in Switzerland. The city is famous for its three castles that have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000....
to encourage immigration but civil wars and coup d’état hampered this public advertising.
The number of immigrants increased sharply in the second half of the XIX century (a fivefold increase from 1869 to 1895). Living conditions were difficult because of surge of epidemics (yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
in 1871, cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
in 1874), political instability, civil wars and monetary depreciation.
The Ticinese lived mainly in the cities. Swiss rural colonies were founded by people from the cantons
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Fribourg and Valais
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
. The tentative of a rural colony in Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
by Mosé Bertoni
Moisés Santiago Bertoni
Mosè Giacomo Bertoni or Moisés Santiago Bertoni was a Swiss botanist. He emigrated to South America in 1884 and lived in Paraguay from 1887 until he died in 1929....
was an interesting scientific and social experiment but an economic failure.
In the construction sector, the Ticinese were masons, stonecutters, site foremen, carpenters, architects, stucco workers and sculptors.
Among the business men, the Ticinese were bankers, hotelkeepers, industrialists, engineers, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers and teachers. All other typical occupations for Ticinese abroad were found in Argentina: dairy farmers, porters, waiters, coppersmiths, knife-grinders, glaziers, brick-makers and chimney sweeps.
Mutual aid societies and patriotic societies were founded to foster the bonds among fellow countrymen. For example, the Swiss Philanthropic Society of Buenos Aires, founded in 1861, had 190 members and helped many sick and penniless Ticinese.
In his book, Pedrazzini gives a careful description of the professional and political activities of many Ticinese migrated to Argentina. The dynasties of the Bernasconi, Chiesa, de Marchi, Matti, Pellegrini, Quadri and Soldati families have played an important role in the economic and political activities of Argentina. Villa Lugano
Villa Lugano
Villa Lugano is a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, located in the West of the city. It has a population of approximately 114,000 people....
, now a working class neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, was formerly a town founded by Giuseppe (José) Soldati to honour Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
, the city in his district of origin.
The most famous Ticinese migrant is the poet Alfonsina Storni
Alfonsina Storni
Alfonsina Storni was one of the most important Latin-American poets of the modernist period.-Life:Storni was born in Sala Capriasca, Switzerland to an Argentine beer industrialist living in Switzerland for a few years. There, Storni learned to speak Italian...
. She was a four-year girl when her parents migrated to Argentina. Her father had opened a brewery in San Juan
San Juan, Argentina
San Juan is the capital city of the Argentine province of San Juan in the Cuyo region, located in the Tulúm Valley, west of the San Juan River, at above mean sea level, with a population of around 112,000 as per the ....
and later a restaurant in Rosario.
From 1869 to 1892 several hundred people left Ticino to migrate to South America. In his book, Pedrazzini gives the names and the villages of origin of 6470 migrants from Ticino. This information was obtained using consular and private registers. This old president of the Swiss Philanthropic Society of Buenos Aires estimates that migration was profitable for 10%, indifferent for 50% and negative for 40% of his fellow countrymen.
The rich migrant who came back home built magnificent villa and took part in the industrialisation of Ticino. For instance, Villa Argentina in Mendrisio
Mendrisio
Mendrisio is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.Mendrisio is the seat of the Accademia di Architettura of the university of Italian speaking Switzerland ....
was built by Antonio Croci for Giovanni Bernasconi and Villa Buenos Aires in Castel San Pietro
Castel San Pietro
Castel San Pietro is a municipality in the district of Mendrisio in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-History:Castel San Pietro is first mentioned in 1171 as Castellum Sancti Petri. A settlement near the village was mentioned in 865, when an Imperial knight named Sigeradus, granted the area to...
is another illustration of past emigration to Argentina.
The second generation acquired Argentine citizenship at birth and did not speak “Ticinese
Ticinese
Ticinese is a comprehensive denomination for the varieties of Lombard language spoken in Canton Ticino and in the north of the Province of Varese....
” and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
. Sometimes the name was changed to make pronunciation easy. Emigration to Argentina ceased after the Second World War and the members of patriotic societies became old and very few. Family names and tombstones are the present traces of emigration from Ticino.