Printing for Italy: the presses of Lugano and Capolago

A printing industry on the frontier

Lugano had printed for Italian readers long before the Risorgimento. The Agnelli press, active in Lugano from 1746 to 1799, published more than 400 titles, books and periodicals, among them the weekly Nuove di diverse corti e paesi, also called the Gazzetta di Lugano, which made the firm famous across Europe. The presses of the early nineteenth century inherited its markets.¹ The decisive advantage of Ticino was legal. The Austrian and Sardinian censorship required every book printed in their territories to pass a preventive review and controlled the import of foreign books at the frontier. Once the liberal constitution of 23 June 1830 had guaranteed the freedom of the press, the printers of Ticino enjoyed a protection that did not exist in Lombardy or Piedmont. The canton tightened its control of publications by the press laws of 11 June 1831 and 13 June 1834, yet these laws did not deter the presses, and the heavier blows came from the seizures ordered by the Austrian authorities.² A book that could not be printed in Milan or Turin could be printed in Lugano or Capolago, a few hours away by boat or cart, and then carried across the frontier in small quantities. Marino Viganò, who edited an anthology of the political texts printed in Italian Switzerland between the Enlightenment and unification, quotes the Mazzinian exile Filippo De Boni: "Una stamperia vale come un esercito", a printing press is worth an army.³

The table lists the presses that mattered most for the Italian cause.

Press Place Years Character Veladini Lugano 1805–1925 Largest printer of the canton Vanelli Lugano 1823–1827 Corriere Svizzero, liberal opposition Ruggia Lugano 1827–1842 Centre of the Italian exiles, about 200 titles with Vanelli Tipografia Capolago 1830–1853 More than 350 titles, Italian classics and Elvetica politics Tipografia Lugano 1842–1851 Giacomo Ciani's radical republican press della Svizzera Italiana

Sources: Archivio di Stato del Cantone Ticino, "Tipografie"; Viganò, Riforme Rivoluzione Risorgimento (2007).⁴

Vanelli and Ruggia

The first press that worked systematically for the exiles was founded in Lugano on 7 January 1823 by Giuseppe Vanelli. Its newspaper, the Corriere Svizzero, "esercitò una viva opposizione al regime dei landamani", a vigorous opposition to the conservative regime of the landamani.⁵ On 19 June 1827 Giuseppe Ruggia took over the business. Ruggia printed the Osservatore del Ceresio (1830–1834), the liberal constitution of 1830 and, from 1837, the civil code of the canton, published as a supplement to Franscini's journal Il Cittadino ticinese.⁶ The cantonal archives describe his shop as "il centro dei profughi politici italiani", the centre of the Italian political refugees. The Milanese economist Giuseppe Pecchio, living in exile in Brighton, used Ruggia "quasi esclusivamente" for his writings. The press also printed works by the brothers Camillo and Filippo Ugoni of Brescia, by Giovanni Arrivabene of Mantua and by the doctor Giuseppe Zola.⁷ Ruggia paid for this with lawsuits, seizures and constant trouble with the Austrian police. His press closed on 28 January 1842 after producing, together with its predecessor, about 200 titles.⁸

Notes

1. Marino Viganò, introduction to Riforme Rivoluzione Risorgimento. Antologia di testi civili e politici pubblicati dalle stamperie della Svizzera italiana dall'età dei Lumi all'Unità d'Italia, ed. M. Viganò (Milano: Mursia; Lugano: Fondazione del Centenario della Banca della Svizzera Italiana, 2007), reproduced at https://www.giornalismoestoria.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20097141642214marinovigano.pdf (consulted 4 October 2026), giving "oltre quattrocento titoli, fra libri e periodici" for Agnelli and describing the press as "assurta a fama europea grazie alla diffusione del settimanale 'Nuove di diverse corti e paesi', o 'Gazzetta di Lugano'". ↩
2. Viganò, introduction (above), on the constitution of 23 June 1830 and the press freedom it established, on the "nuove disposizioni sulla stampa con le leggi dell'11 giugno 1831 e 13 giugno 1834", which did not discourage the presses, and on the Elvetica "fiaccata dai sequestri dell'autorità austriaca". On the constitution of 1830 see also Chapter C.I. ↩
3. Viganò, introduction (above). The anthology was published with the support of the foundation created for the centenary of the Banca della Svizzera Italiana, founded in Lugano in 1873 (Chapter C.IV). ↩
4. Archivio di Stato del Cantone Ticino, "Tipografie" (above), for the years of each press and the characterization of Veladini, Vanelli and Ruggia; Viganò, introduction (above), for the number of titles of Vanelli-Ruggia and of the Elvetica and for the date of liquidation of the Tipografia della Svizzera Italiana. The cantonal archives give 1852 as the end of the Tipografia della Svizzera Italiana, the DHS article on Ciani 1851. ↩
5. Archivio di Stato del Cantone Ticino, "Tipografie" (above). ↩
6. Archivio di Stato del Cantone Ticino, "Tipografie" (above), on the takeover of 19 June 1827, the Osservatore del Ceresio and the constitution of 1830; Martinola, "La tipografia Elvetica di Capolago" (above), second part, on the civil code of 14 June 1837 published by Ruggia as a supplement to Il Cittadino ticinese. ↩
7. Archivio di Stato del Cantone Ticino, "Tipografie" (above); Martinola, "I primi esuli" (above), on Pecchio and the other authors. ↩
8. Viganò, introduction (above), on the closure on 28 January 1842 and the approximate number of titles. ↩

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 August 2025.