{"id":3413,"date":"2014-08-06T15:17:33","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T13:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=3413"},"modified":"2016-05-07T16:27:54","modified_gmt":"2016-05-07T14:27:54","slug":"ticino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/ticino\/","title":{"rendered":"You’ve just crossed over into the Twilight Zone. Next stop: Ticino"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ticinoLast month, during the final days of my Italy blog tour, I had the strangest dream\u2014it really unsettled me, like an episode from The Twilight Zone. At first, everything appeared normal. I was in this smallish Italian town, wandering around the historical center with my wife and baby. We stopped for an espresso, bought a gelato for my daughter, and then picked up a few cartoline<\/em> and francobolli<\/em> in a tobacco shop. The simple things that we do most every day when in Rome or Sicily. The people around us were speaking Italian, and there was the unmistakable scent of fresh cornetti<\/em> in the air.<\/p>\n

But something wasn\u2019t quite right. (Cue Rod Serling\u2019s intro sequence\u2026)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Bellinzona,<\/a>For one thing, the streets were clean\u2026too<\/em> clean. No graffiti on the buildings, either. Everything was moving in slow motion. The motorini<\/em> were idling at the traffic light like every other vehicle, instead of weaving around the cars and onto the sidewalk to get to the front of the line. We were waiting for a bus and it arrived exactly<\/em> on time! And not one person told me to \u201cvaffanculo!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

What kind of bizarre wormhole had I crawled through? \u201cWhat the hell is going on here? This isn\u2019t Italy!\u201d I exclaimed to my wife, hyperventilating, trying to suppress my panic.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelax, Rick, we’re in Ticino. \u00a0No, this isn\u2019t Italy\u2026it\u2019s Switzerland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Switzerland? I thought Switzerland was like Heidi-Land; full of schnitzel, biergartens, and fahrvergn\u00fcgen. Old men in lederhosen yodeling across the Alps. Instead, I was trapped in a nightmare\u2014a sterilized, watered-down, Walt Disney version of Italy. Aiuuutooooo!!!<\/em><\/p>\n

Ticino, Italian-speaking Switzerland<\/h2>\n

What a difference a border can make. I guess what made the experience so shocking was the abruptness of the change. At the beginning of my Italy blog tour, we started in Lake Como and gradually, over the course of an entire month, made our way down to Sicily. This time, we had taken a late afternoon flight from Catania to Milan, then a sleepy train ride to Bellinzona, where we promptly passed out around midnight. When we woke up and opened our eyes, we were suddenly on another planet.<\/p>\n

\"Lugano,<\/a>
Lugano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Canton of Ticino is the southernmost area of Switzerland, and the only canton where Italian is the primary language. Surprisingly, it\u2019s really the only<\/em> language you hear and see in Ticino, even though Switzerland has four official languages (German, French, Italian, and Romansh).<\/p>\n

From what I learned, the various zones have largely maintained their historical cultural identities while simultaneously forming a strong political union. This strikes me as incredible feat. The U.S. has a strong political union, but is culturally homogeneous. Meanwhile, the European Union has tons of cultural diversity, but the political bonds are weak, at best. I guess it helps to be small\u2014and \u201cSwiss\u201d in your mentality.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, while the national government is technically a \u201cfederal multi-party directorial republic,\u201d there is plenty of evidence of direct democracy. The citizens actually cast their individual votes on all major legislation, and may also propose referendums and constitutional initiatives to their parliament, if they collect enough signatures. Even the Greeks, who invented democracy, can\u2019t claim that degree of direct government involvement by its population.<\/p>\n

Of course, Switzerland is not without its problems, too. One of their most pressing issues at the moment is dealing with the influx of Italians who want to live and work in Ticino. In recent years, there have been over 40,000 Italian citizens who have relocated to Ticino, with an additional 60,000 applications pending. This would be a serious strain on a population that is currently only around 342,000.<\/p>\n

In February of 2014, the Swiss citizens passed some tough immigration laws to severely limit the number of foreigners, including Italians and other Europeans, living and working in their country. (In fact, the initiative found its strongest support in Ticino, where 70% voted in favor of it–in other words, in favor of keeping the Italians out.)<\/p>\n

It will take a couple more years to enact the new law, but it\u2019s pretty clear that the Swiss are determined to preserve their little island in the middle of Europe; minding their own damn business as they have throughout modern history. If two World Wars couldn\u2019t drag them into the European Union, I suppose nothing will.<\/p>\n

Go North, young man<\/h2>\n

\"mapEven though our visit to Switzerland was limited to just Italian-speaking Ticino, that doesn\u2019t mean that we didn\u2019t notice some geographical differences. We stayed in Lugano, but also went to Bellinzona, and visited our friend who lives and works near Biasca. Notice on the map that these cities are in a line from south to north. What\u2019s really fascinating is that the culture seems to follow this line, as well. What I mean is that Lugano was clearly the most \u201cItalian\u201d of these cities, while Biasca begins to show signs of a more Austrian\/German influence as it relates to architecture, civic organization, and traffic patterns. Bellinzona was somewhere in between. A cultural spectrum, if you will, and if you were so inclined, you could choose where you wanted to live based on how much \u201cItalian-ness\u201d you\u2019re able to tolerate.<\/p>\n

So what should I take away from my visit to the Swiss version of Italy? On the first day of our visit, I was like \u201cYES! This<\/em> is what all of Italy should be like: great food and beautiful panoramas, but with efficient services and unpolluted public spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then by our last day it was starting to wear on me. Yes, everything was clean and organized, and the people were exceedingly polite. But to be completely honest, it was\u2026well, how shall I say this? Boring. Which is not a bad thing if you just want to relax for a few days, like us. But to live there? I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

The truth is, I love Rome. There\u2019s a certain sense of accomplishment in surviving the chaos among the crumbling history of the world\u2019s greatest civilization. I also love visiting Florence and Naples and Sicily and all the wonderful places in between. Italy is a country with more cultural richness than the entire rest of the world combined. But let\u2019s be honest, life in Italy isn\u2019t always easy for an expat who isn\u2019t George Clooney at his villa on Lake Como, or some tycoon partying on yacht near Capri. For the average straniero<\/em> (or Italian) trying to scratch out a living without going insane, Italy is a constant struggle, and it can seem like every conceivable obstacle is intentionally put in your way to make daily life as inconvenient as possible.<\/p>\n

Listen, if you want a great vacation for a couple of weeks, or even a few months, don\u2019t even think twice\u2014come to Italy. (Better still, come to Sicily where Italy is at its most intense.) You\u2019ll have the best time of your life, I promise. As a vacation destination, it just doesn\u2019t get any better than the Bel Paese<\/em>. But if you\u2019re making a move and thinking of becoming an expat, I have another idea for you. I suggest that you fly into Milan and keep moving north until you find your comfort zone. Don\u2019t be surprised when at last you\u2019re in Switzerland. Ticino\u2014the Swiss version of Italy\u2014might just be a suitable compromise between the two extremes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month, during the final days of my Italy blog tour, I had the strangest dream\u2014it really unsettled me, like an episode from The Twilight Zone. At first, everything appeared normal. I was in this smallish Italian town, wandering around the historical center with my wife and baby. We stopped for an espresso, bought a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,211,5,29],"tags":[384,84,273,272,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}