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Oral Traditions

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• Migration

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Valais - Switzerland

The Italian influence in Valais

D'Alpaos, Fantoni, Gentinetta, Gianadda, Rabaglia, Recrosio…: these names testify to the continuous historical contribution that Italian migrants gave to the economic, social and cultural life of Valais. People with these names in fact are still active today in the key sectors of construction, tourism and culture in contemporary Valais. In their family album on the internet and which they designed for Cantina Transalpina, an exhibition of photos assembled in June 2007 in the central square in Brigue in homage to Italians who came to Valais to dig the Simplon tunnel and the Lötschberg tunnel, the D'Alpaos narrate the migration history of their family. Their ancestor Liberale D'Alpaos left Veneto at the end of the 19^th century and established himself as a carpenter in Naters during the drilling of the Simplon tunnel. His family used to run the coffee shop Venezia in Naters, helping to forge links between Italian miners and the local population. It was one of his descendants, Jean-Pierre D'Alpaos, who received the prize of the town of Brigue on 18 November 2010 for his cultural commitment to music, cinema and literature in Haut-Valais. The companies Fantoni and Gentinetta, established in Brigue, dominate the construction sector in Haut-Valais, continuing to practise today the skills of their ancestors. The first company participated in the implementation of the lift bridge that was built on the Saltine following the floods of the century that took place on 24 September 1993; while a branch of the second company set up in Viège a farm for the breeding of horses and mules to promote rural tourism. Similarly, engineer Léonard Gianadda dominates the construction sector in Bas-Valais; he is the grandson of a mason from Piedmont who came to Valais in 1886 at the age of thirteen and became an entrepreneur at Martigny; in addition to his training in engineering, he was a photographer and journalist and built the Fondation Pierre Gianadda in Martigny whose exhibitions are known throughout the whole of Europe. Film-maker Denis Rabaglia, born in Martigny, made his debut in the studios of a local television station before being noticed for his short films (Grossesse nerveuse), his feature films Azzurro and Marcello Marcello and his staging of Novecento by the Italian writer Baricco. As for comedian Frédéric Recrosio, born in Sion, he attended the drama school of Martigny and created solo performances that he introduced in Switzerland and in France (Rêver, grandir et coincer des malheureuses or Aimer, mûrir et trahir avec la coiffeuse) as well as song shows (ça n'arrive qu'aux vivants, presented in Valais as part of Scenes from Valais 2011, Scènes valaisannes 2011).
Particular features: it is the special geographical position of Valais that determined the course of its historical relations with nearby Italy and contributed towards the long-term Italian presence in Valais.
Representation: this Italian presence recalls that the social and cultural identity of Valais and the "living traditions" that are its concrete manifestation, develop and adjust themselves permanently in the complex relationship that exists between those who move, leaving or arriving, and those who remain.
The Italian influence in Valais is finally an example in that it appears as a sample of a similar process that takes place at a national level, marked in the same way by fluctuations and heterogeneity.

LEARNING AND TRANSMISSION

In the second half of the 19th century, the industrialization of Valais strengthens the Italian contribution. Mainly coming from the villages of Piedmont, artisans and workers migrate temporarily or permanently to France or to Switzerland. Sostegno, for example, which has a long tradition in the construction trades, witnesses several generations of families involved in this migratory movement, among them the Fasanino family and the Bertelletto family who establish themselves in Valais. It is therefore a wide range of knowledge linked to stone that these Italian craftsmen and workers bring to Valais; masons who become entrepreneurs and participate in the construction of roads and dams, builders of arteries made of stone along which circulates the money provided by the various merchants and artisans who follow their trail.
Over the years, various associations render visible the "living traditions" arising from this presence: Italian colonies, Catholic missions, academic societies (such as the Società Dante Alighieri), football clubs, theatre companies, all serving as expressions of the diversity spread along various strata of the Italian influence in Valais. Events organized under their auspices, feasts, sports tournaments, theatrical performances, festivals (such as the festival Bell'Italia held in the Belle Usine at Fully in June 2010) are the source of practical experiences in which the local population generally participates and which supply life to the economic, social and cultural tissue of Valais to the point that this Italian presence has now lost its prominence and seems "natural", integrated as it is in the process for an identity and for a cultural component of the community of "Valais".

• Available in:
• ITA
• ENG
• FRA
• DEU

To learn more

Web Sites

• L'Italianità en Valais dans les collections audiovisuelles de la Médiathèque Valais - Martigny
  
• Les traditions vivantes en Suisse - L’Italianità en Valais
  

Produced by

SVIZZERA Cantone Vallese - Médiathèque Valais - Martigny - Geraldine Roels

Scientific Advisor

Thomas Antonietti, Domenico Mesiano, Suzanne Chappaz, Fabienne Défayes

Release Date

27-NOV-2014 (Geraldine Roels)

Last update

02-DIC-2014

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