Italian immigration to Switzerland
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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) is related to the
Italian diaspora , image = Map of the Italian Diaspora in the World.svg , image_caption = Map of the Italian diaspora in the world , population = worldwide , popplace = Brazil, Argentina, United States, France, Colombia, Canada, P ...
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 and t ...
. Future Italian leader
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...
himself emigrated in Switzerland in 1902, only to be deported 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 encouraged the arrival of guest workers, 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 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 ...
. In 1970 there were a million immigrants in Switzerland, 54% of whom were Italians. Rising friction with the indigenous majority even led to the creation of an "anti-Italians party" in 1963. As every other immigrant group at the time, Italians were faced with a policy of forced integration, 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
/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 literatur ...
*
Swiss people in Italy The presence of Swiss people in Italy is especially on the border, Campione d'Italia and in Milan. Numbers In 2021 in Italy there are 8,153 regular citizens from Switzerland. The three cities with most number of Swiss people are: Milan, Rome an ...


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