Fascism, irredentism and the Gotthard

"The natural and safe frontier of Italy"

The first Fascist group (fascio) on Swiss soil was founded in Lugano in May 1921, among the Italian residents of the town.¹ In the following month Benito Mussolini, newly elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies, made his first parliamentary speech. According to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland he declared himself concerned about the danger of the "germanization" of Ticino and called the Gotthard "the natural and safe frontier of Italy".² The Swiss legation in Rome reported on the speech to Bern on 24 June 1921. The diplomatic documents edited by Dodis record a political report on Mussolini's speech and a letter on the press incidents and polemics in Ticino that followed it between 1921 and 1924.³ When Mussolini became prime minister in October 1922, the issue moved from the opposition benches into the conduct of foreign relations. At his first meeting with the Swiss minister Georges Wagnière on 10 November 1922, the new head of government raised Italian concerns about the germanization of Ticino.⁴

The word "germanization" referred to real processes that Ticinese politicians themselves deplored: the influx of German-speaking Swiss and Germans after the opening of the Gotthard line, the German ownership of hotels and businesses, the German-language schools for the children of railway staff and the predominance of German in the federal administration. Chapter C.III describes how the Gotthard railway brought these changes. The Fascist interpretation turned them into evidence that the canton was being alienated from its Italian nature and that only Italy could protect it. In the 1920s this rhetoric served mainly as a means of pressure. The Historical Dictionary observes that after it came to power the Fascist party used irredentist propaganda as a lever to induce the Swiss authorities to adopt a strict attitude towards the anti-fascist activities of political refugees from Italy.⁵ The trade-off between tolerance of Italian exiles and Italian restraint on Ticino became one of the constants of Swiss–Italian relations until 1943.

L'Adula and its editors

The intellectual centre of Ticinese italophilia was the review L'Adula, published from 4 July 1912 to 3 August 1935, weekly and at times fortnightly. It was founded by the linguist Carlo Salvioni and edited by Teresa (Teresina) Bontempi and Rosetta Colombi. Its programme was the defence of the Italian character of the canton's culture against what its editors saw as Swiss federal centralism and cultural germanization.⁶ Bontempi, born in Locarno in 1883, was a teacher who had become cantonal inspector of kindergartens in 1908.⁷ After the First World War the review's political italophilia grew stronger. Rosetta Colombi embraced Fascism. Her husband Piero Parini became a leading official of the Fascist party, responsible for the organization of Italians abroad.⁸

The cantonal authorities reacted early. In 1921 the review temporarily ceased publication, and Bontempi was removed from her post as inspector, although she was reinstated in December 1922. In 1931 she collaborated on an Almanacco della Svizzera italiana whose irredentist emphasis led to her final dismissal.⁹ In 1935 the federal authorities intervened. Bontempi and Emilio Colombi were arrested and charged with high treason, and the Federal Council suppressed L'Adula after discovering evidence of the connections between its editors and authors who published irredentist texts in Italy.¹⁰ The criminal proceedings ended without trial. The Historical Dictionary records that the investigation concluded with a finding of no grounds to proceed, but that the case led the federal legislator to include in the Swiss Criminal Code of 1937 provisions against activities directed at the independence of the Confederation.¹¹ The articles on offences against the State in the Criminal Code, which entered into force in 1942, include the prohibition of undertakings aimed at violating or endangering the independence of the Confederation (Art. 266 SCC).¹²

Notes

1. Mauro Cerutti, "Fascisme", in DHS, version of 22 September 2011, https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/017454/2011-09-22/: "le premier faisceau (fascio, groupe ou cellule) fondé à Lugano en mai 1921". ↩
2. Cerutti, "Fascisme" (above): Mussolini declared himself "préoccupé par le danger de germanisation du Tessin" and described the Gotthard as "frontière naturelle et sûre de l'Italie". ↩
3. Dodis, person entry "Benito Mussolini", https://dodis.ch/P741, listing documents dodis.ch/44740 and dodis.ch/44741 of 24 June 1921 (letter on press incidents and polemics in Ticino 1921–1924 and political report on Mussolini's speech in the Chamber). ↩
4. Dodis, "Benito Mussolini" (above), listing the political report of 10 November 1922, dodis.ch/44873, on the first meeting between Wagnière and Mussolini and Italian concerns about the "germanisation" of Ticino. ↩
5. Gilardoni, "Irredentismus" (above): "Nachdem die faschistische Partei in Italien an die Macht gelangt war, nutzte sie die irredentistische Propaganda als Druckmittel, um die Schweizer Behörden zu einer strengen Haltung gegenüber den antifaschistischen Aktivitäten der politischen Flüchtlinge aus Italien zu bewegen." ↩
6. Silvano Gilardoni, "L'Adula", in DHS, version of 7 March 2003, https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/024590/2003-03-07/. ↩
7. Pasquale Genasci, "Bontempi, Teresa", in DSS, version of 14 November 2000, https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/it/articles/012818/. ↩
8. Gilardoni, "L'Adula" (above). ↩
9. Genasci, "Bontempi, Teresa" (above). ↩
10. Genasci, "Bontempi, Teresa" (above); Gilardoni, "L'Adula" (above). ↩
11. Genasci, "Bontempi, Teresa" (above), on the "non luogo a procedere" and on the provisions added to the Federal Criminal Code of 1937. ↩
12. Swiss Criminal Code of 21 December 1937 (SCC), SR 311.0, Art. 266 ("Attacks on the independence of the Confederation"), English text at https://www.droit-bilingue.ch/en-de/3/31/311.0-266-328.html (para. 1 as amended by the Federal Act of 5 October 1950, in force since 5 January 1951). On the entry into force of the Code on 1 January 1942 see Wikipedia (English), "Swiss Criminal Code", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Criminal_Code (consulted as a last resort). Genasci, "Bontempi, Teresa" (above), links the Adula case to the provision only in general terms. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.