![Italian workers arriving in Brig in 1956.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/gastarbeiter-italien-300x225.jpg)
Switzerland: the reluctant host of Italian guest workers
In the 1960s, Switzerland faced a dilemma regarding its Italian guest workers: their labour was desperately needed, their presence in society less so...
![Portrait of Max Frisch, 1990.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/2019/07/Frisch-225x300.jpg)
![Italian guest workers pass the waiting time at the railway station with a card game, 1956.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/italienische-gastarbeiter-bahnhof-300x282.jpg)
![Fiorentino Sullo (second left) on his working visit to Switzerland in 1961. Photo from the newspaper Die Tat.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-tat-sullo-300x214.jpg)
TV documentary on the Schwarzenbach initiative of 1970 (in German). YouTube / SRF
Experiences of Switzerland — Italianità
A southern European attitude to life is part of Switzerland today. This Italianità stems mainly from Italian immigrants. At the same time, Switzerland has its own home-grown Italianità in Ticino and Graubünden. Many Swiss have adopted the Italian lifestyle over the years, and it is now in evidence across the country – from Basel to Vevey and Sitten, and from Zurich to Biel’s old town. It is part of the country’s intangible cultural heritage. Nonetheless, the path to today’s Mediterranean Switzerland was not always a smooth one; it is littered with both uplifting and sad life stories. Ten contemporary witnesses share their personal accounts in the new 'Experiences of Switzerland – Italianità' exhibition.