'Emilia Sina, President of Gente Camuna in Zurich, was awarded the star of Italian solidarity'
The prestigious title of "Knight of the order of the star of Italian solidarity" was awarded by the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano to Emilia Sina-Margelisch, President of Zurich's Gente Camuna by Decree on January 13, 2009.
The coveted honor, established on January 27, 1947 for "rewarding those who particularly contributed to the reconstruction of Italy", was awarded to Emilia Sina following the proposal made by the Intercantonal Switzerland ACLI Eastern Center and Zurich's circle of Gente Camuna, "for its great availability, its solidarity towards others, the help that has been able to give, the work carried out over a period of more than twenty years and love towards Italy and Italians abroad.
Its active membership in different associations---which has undoubtedly contributed to a great approximation of two cultures and promoted several initiatives that have made the Swiss and Italian culture---nonetheless has worked politically in defending the rights of our emigrants in Switzerland.
Emilia Sina was born in Valcamonica in the province of Brescia, Her parents emigrated to Switzerland in 1969 while maintaining a strong attachment to Italy and their Lombard origins, while acquiring dual citizenship. She served as President of the Intercantonal ACLI Central Eastern Switzerland for eight years, with 22 clubs and 1,500 members in eight German-speaking cantons; working with the Group of elders of Kilchberg and with several Italian missionaries and pastors in Switzerland, to promote cultural events in favor of integration and valorisation of the Italian identity. Her social commitment led to a prestigious award with her appointment as Honorary President of Filitalia International of Lugano, an Italian-American philanthropic Association of Philadelphia (U.S.A.).
In 2006 Emilia Sina has promoted a twinning with the Association Ma nel Mondo Onlus and the Zurich Gente Camuna (of which she is Chair) to give impetus to the Italian and Lombard presence in Switzerland, and for social and cultural projects in favor of the emigre community, in collaboration with the Lombardy region, and to promote the participation of Lombardi abroad in the drafting of the new law on Lombardi nel Mondo.
The twinning has been extended, with the Virgiliano Association, associations in Sicily and southern Italy, in Lombardy with a roving annual gathering in Caravaggio (BG), in Sicily, and Magnacavallo (MN), on the occasion of the feast of the emigrant Mantovani and Lombardi.
On the occasion of the international meeting in 2008 of Siciliani nel Mondo, Pietraperzia, Emilia Sina was awarded the International Prize "Globe Italy Guglielmo Marconi" which she dedicated to the sacrifices of women migrants.
Emilia Sina was nominated at the last Congress of the Swiss Office of ACLI National President.
It is one of the promoters together with Gente Camuna, the Association of Mantovani nel Mondo Onlus, and Lombard associations in Switzerland of 1 Party and federalist autonomist Statute of the Lombardy region, in cooperation with the Presidency of the Regional Council, expected next April in Zurich.
Delivering to Emilia Sina---the degree of Knight of the order of the star of Italian solidarity---insignia for the honor will be Giovanni Maria Veltroni, Consul General of Italy in Zurich on 18 April, in Zurich, present Mayor of Zone (BS) Pio Marchetti with fifty expatriates emigrated to Switzerland from Valcamonica, the President of Gente Camuna Nino Stivala, Chairman of the AMM Onlus Daniele Rossi, Pietro Paolo Poidimani, Coordinator and President of "Globe Italy," Bella Rose President del Cenacolo di Storia Patria of Enna and the province, together with representatives of the Italian community in Switzerland.
Chiara Antonuccio
Preparation of Lombardi worldwide
www.lombardinelmondo.org
For congratulations:
Emilia Sina Email e.sina@hispeed.ch
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From the video description (YouTube channel swissinfovideos):
A group of people from Ticino retrace the first steps of many emigranti on their way to Australia or the United States. At the top of the Sassello pass, they sing the emigranti song, Do you want to come to America?
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[Translated from the article on the Lombardi nel Mondo website]
The Lombard migration in North America
Interview with Ernesto Milani, historian and scholar of the Lombard migration in North America.
A wide-ranging interview with Ernesto Milani, historian and scholar of emigration from England to the United States and Canada: from Missouri to Vermont, from Illinois to Ontario, keeping Lombard roots alive.
What is your training under the Lombard immigration historical research in the United States?
I wrote my thesis on Italian mutual aid societies in the United States, in particular research work on the Lombard Association in Boston, Subalpina Mutual Society. Then I commenced to collect books, postcards and other material on the subject.
The first important work I've done has been on the Italian emigration (in particular, Marchigian and Venetian southern plantations of the Mississippi). From that date onwards, I have done a lot of research on the topic.
Also attended by 1976 the Hague, Italian-American Association and I have contacts with historians who make up this important Association.
How is the map of the Lombards in the United States?
The Lombards who arrived in the United States in the years of mass emigration were mostly miners and laborers. The main destinations to which this emigration was focused are St. Louis, Missouri, Herrin and Rockford, Illinois, Barre, Vermont, Iron Mountain, Michigan, Walla Walla, Washington, and then in Texas, in San Francisco (in particular in the area of San Rafael), in New Mexico and Arizona.
In Canada, however, focused in Ontario, in coal mines on the border between Alberta to British Columbia, and along the railway linking Montreal to Victoria.
The strongest emigration was from 1880 to 1920. Just to give you an example that gives the measure of the importance of the phenomenon, from Cuggiono left toward New York Harbor about 1,700 people in an era when this country had approximately 4000 people (Lombards?).
In Canada, emigration has been strong even after the war, especially from the province of Brescia and Bergamo.
How organized are Lombard associations in the United States?
There is a certain organization, but is less than elsewhere. My experience tells me that most organized associations are those of St. Louis and Harrin, where the presence of Lombard miners was very strong. St. Louis was indeed a "little Italy," and often associations were born to create mutual aid institutions, so as to share a doctor in town for example.
In what form is the Lombard identity within these communities?
The Lombard tradition in any form is maintained: for example in St. Louis there is a church dedicated to Saint Ambrose. Lombard values are family values that are conserved. Often there remains a certain knowledge of the dialect, perhaps there remains nicknames that you give people. In addition, today these are often found in Lombardy, in their region of origin, and this helps strengthen ties. This is even more true if we consider that today, rediscovering Lombardy is no longer a negative, but is part of their lives.
In Canada the preservation of identity is more relevant, since the Lombards were always less in number.
What is the social and economic situation of our emigrants?
It's hard to generalize. In any case, in St. Louis, for example, the integration was very slow, the Italians were workers until the end of World War II. Since then, things have changed and the Italians today work in all different occupations.
Of course, our communities are very engaged in catering, according to the Italian tradition in general.
Were there prejudices (positive or negative) in relation to our communities, when they arrived and began to integrate into the local social fabric?
Maybe there was, and it was more in the American South, otherwise the Lombards were not affected that much by this factor. For example, Ellis Island (the island that functioned as sorting station for immigrants in New York) the Italians on arrival were divided between southerners and northerners, and also within the north (Italy) there were differences, whereby for example the Trentini were sorted along with Tyrol.
The Lombard migration to the United States is a topic that seems to have been insufficiently studied by academia. Could more studies be carried out to give a more complete picture of this subject?
Studies are numerous but more at the individual level and provincial staff. There is also the problem of saving accounts, and this information is being lost to the point that it is now too late to intervene. The obvious reason for this is that these stories are lost when people disappear that handed down orally.
And the Lombard migration today in the United States?
It's totally different. This is an emigration of professionals, researchers, teachers or people who have implanted. There is also the emigration of those who want to change his life and put to the test in completely new environments. We are not talking about large numbers, but it is in any case a phenomenon as well.
Fabio Veneri
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One historical period, which literally ties many of us together on both sides of the ocean, was the Austrian occupation of the northeast Italian peninsula. This occupation did not end in 1860, but continued on in the Trentino through World War I. The Lombardian resistance, and later the Trentinese resistance, hid out in Ticino. It was naturally an ideal location for many reasons. First, it was the same culture and even the same Lombard dialect. Also, when you view history, "nobody messes with the bank." Nobody interferes with Switzerland, as history shows us. Not Napoleon, not the Hapsburgs, not the National Socialists, nobody.In response, the Austrian army blockaded the southern borders of Ticino. This cut off many people from employment, supplies, trade, produce, etc. Back then, it was just heavy Alpine mountains to the north. No express trains. I don't know how long or how many times this blockade may have been in place between 1850 and 1930, the years of Ticinese emigration. It must have been a long time since the resistance movements were operating between 1848 and 1918.[Above: Cesare Battisti, probably the most important figure of the Trentinese resistance]This time period, although socially and politically long past, is only a blip on the historical scale. Some of us were alive when Cesare Battisti was hanged in Trento in 1916. For a few of us, our grandparents may have been alive during the Cinque Giornate Revolt in Milano in 1848. It's even possible that they were even living in those cities and witnessed it. The Trentinese, the Lombardians, the Venetians, and the Ticinese, are all one people at the end of the day. The following in an article from May, from the 'Sonoma Valley Sun' newspaper, which ties into this subject.Swiss in SonomaGeorge McKale - 'Sonoma Valley Sun' - May 22, 2009There are two kinds of assumptions. In science, a theory is an assumption, and it is the basis for how one interprets data collected during a scientific study. With this kind of assumption, it is necessary to explicitly describe and declare the underlying assumption (theory) for the investigation. The other assumption is a proposition that is taken for granted, as if it were true without preponderance of the facts. It is this type of assumption one looks to avoid. In last weeks segment I made the second type of assumption stating that Fernando Nichelini was Italian, when in fact, as Walt Picchi, Nichelini’s great nephew has pointed out, he is Swiss. According to Picchi, Nichelini was extremely proud of his Swiss heritage. In restitution, I dedicate this segment to Florindo’s homeland.
Florindo’s father, Francisco, immigrated from Verscio, Switzerland, located in the Italian-speaking Canton Ticino, in 1870. The Swiss nation is a confederation of 26 states called cantons. Francisco settled just north of Sonoma at what is now the Moon Mountain Christmas Tree Farm. Once established, his son Florindo arrived in Sonoma County in 1880 at the age of twelve. The rugged Moon Mountain property reminded Francisco of his homeland. A deed dated September 4, 1920 indicates that the Nichelinis sold the Moon Mountain property in 1920. Two other deeds dating to 1906 and 1908 show Florindo purchasing land from both Joshua and Henry Chauvet in Glen Ellen. In the early 19th century, Switzerland was troubled with political and economic turmoil. Just to the south of Ticino was Italy, and Northern Italian nationalists operated out of Switzerland in their war for independence from Austria. Austria reacted by blocking the Italian-Swiss border, which curtailed commerce between the two nations. Ticinesi families residing in both Switzerland and Italy were no longer able to support their families, and many made the difficult decision to leave their homeland for the United States.In the first half of the nineteenth century large numbers of Swiss settled in the mid-West. The gold rush brought thousands of Swiss immigrants to California. One of California’s most notable Swiss immigrants was Johann August Sutter (John Sutter), who founded Sutter’s Fort. He referred to the fort as Nueva Helvetia, meaning New Switzerland. Migration out of Ticino and into California began in earnest by the mid-nineteenth century. Of all Swiss immigrants to California, the greatest number came from Ticino. Between 1820 and 1930, 290,000 Swiss migrated to California.Many of the Ticinesi rebuilt their family life known back in the old country. In northern California, Ticinesi settled on ranches in the Salinas Valley, West Marin, and throughout Sonoma County, forming full-scale colonies. Ticinesi women often married Ticinesi men. Prior to 1869, Swiss immigrants to California had to make a long and grueling journey by boat around the southern tip of South America. With the transcontinental railroad completed in 1869, it took around ten days to travel from the East Coast to the West. This also enabled Swiss immigrants to return for extended visits to the home land, with a ten-day trip by train and a three-week trip across the Atlantic by boat.The Swiss immigrants did very well in California and were exceptional vintners and ranchers. They were able to send or bring money back to the home land, building larger houses and spurring the economy. In one Ticinesi town, they built a new cemetery with large stone monuments dedicated for those who had returned from California. Ira Cross in his 1927 “History of Banking in California” states, “Among the people of foreign nations who have settled in this country, none have been more worthy of success than those from Switzerland … They possess to a marked degree the innate qualities that go to make a people great in the truest sense.” Picchi stated that Florindo was still climbing windmills well into his eighties. A picture of Florindo at Nichelini’s Hardware on First Street West can be seen hanging at one of our local bars and eatery. Where? None other than the Swiss Hotel. Go have a drink and peruse the wonderful collection of old Sonoma photographs hanging on the walls.
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This article has the quote that I had been looking for, which I had lost, regarding predominently the Ticinese immigrants. I suppose it reflected also the German-Swiss in California as well, whose history is also remarkable. The 290,000 number for immigrants from Ticino sounded very high. If that's true, then it changes my perception of their significance. Lastly, the Ticinse and the culture of southernmost part of the Graubünden canton (Grigioni) are Lombardian, as they speak the Lombard dialect.
