Italian immigration to Switzerland (unrelated to the indigenous
Italian-speaking population in
Ticino
Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...
and
Grigioni
The Grisons () or Graubünden,Names include:
*german: (Kanton) Graubünden ;
* Romansh:
** rm, label=Sursilvan, (Cantun) Grischun
** rm, label=Vallader, (Chantun) Grischun
** rm, label= Puter, (Chantun) Grischun
** rm, label= Surmiran, (Cant ...
) is related to the
Italian diaspora in
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
.
History
It began on a large scale in the late 19th century, although most of the immigrants that reached the country in that period eventually returned to Italy after the rise of
Fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
. Future Italian leader
Benito Mussolini himself emigrated in Switzerland in 1902, only to be
deported
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
after becoming involved in the socialist movement.
[Mediterranean Fascism 1919-1945 Edited by Charles F. Delzel, Harper Rowe 1970, page 3]
A new migratory wave began after 1945, favoured by the lax immigration laws then in force.
[La lunga storia dell'immigrazione in Svizzera]
/ref> At first the Swiss government
The Federal Council (german: Bundesrat; french: Conseil fédéral; it, Consiglio federale; rm, Cussegl federal) is the executive body of the federal government of the Swiss Confederation and serves as the collective head of state and governme ...
encouraged the arrival of guest workers
Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest worke ...
, assigning them different types of work permits, some forbidding job switching, ranging from the "''frontaliere''" permit given to Italians living near the Swiss border to the ''"C"'' permit granting the same status of a Swiss citizen
Swiss citizenship is the status of being a citizen of Switzerland and it can be obtained by birth or naturalisation.
The Swiss Citizenship Law is based on the following principles:
* Triple citizenship level (Swiss Confederation, canton, and mun ...
minus the political rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...
.integration
Integration may refer to:
Biology
*Multisensory integration
*Path integration
* Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome
*DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...
, later satirised in the highly successful 1978 comedy film ''Die Schweizermacher'' (literally "The Swissmakers"), which went on to become the fifth most-watched film of all time in Switzerland
Characteristics
Italian citizens remain the largest non-naturalized group (ca. 290,000,[Italiani in Svizzera: saldo migratorio nuovamente positivo ](_blank)
/ref> followed by 270,000 Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
). The total number of "ethnic Italians" in Switzerland is estimated at close to half a million, but there are no official statistics on ethnicity, and furthermore cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or assume the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or partially.
The different types of cultural ass ...
and cross-marriage makes it difficult to determine who among the second or third generation descendants of Italian emigrants should be counted as "ethnic Italian".
As of 2008 there is a small resurfacing of Italian immigration, when after decades the migratory balance of Italians returned positive (2,213 new Italian immigrants to Switzerland).
See also
* James Schwarzenbach
James Schwarzenbach (August 5, 1911 – October 27, 1994) was a right-wing Swiss politician and publicist. In the 1970s he was head of the short-lived Republican Movement. He also was publisher of fascist, völkisch, and antisemitic literat ...
* Swiss people in Italy
Notes and references
{{Italian diaspora
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
Immigration to Switzerland