tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8778001285727771343.post5580027456515323040..comments2009-03-09T12:16:45.718-07:00Ercolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07624336130332596024noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8778001285727771343.post-88323690427374802672009-03-09T04:04:00.000-07:002009-03-09T04:04:00.000-07:00Interesting. So, it wasn’t only the people from the famed erstwhile kingdom of the Due Sicilie, harassed by the Northern occupying oppressors, the “fratellastri Italici”, who had to emigrate. The Italian inhabitants of the Canton Ticino, part of Switzerland, that Paradise of democracy, dignity, brotherly love, peace and wealth where they managed in 500 years to produce the cuckoo clock (this one, notoriously, isn’t mine – but Orson Welles’) had to do it, too.<BR/>WHO had oppressed the Ticinesi to such extent as to make them “vote with their feet”?<BR/>BTW, I read someplace (don’t remember where, and can’t find the reference) that it was neither the Swiss, nor the people of the Schwarzwald (Germany) who invented even the cuckoo clock in 1738 – it had already been a guy called Domenico Martinelli (Lucca, 1650-1718, ?). With a solid mecha-nism, this can have been no great strain for those who as early as the XIV C. had invented “clocks, and other machines, powered by agents known at that time such as water and smoke, sometimes by a mixture of them” (Iraci: “Re: G.B. Fontana”, H-ITAM 27 Aug 2004).<BR/><BR/>Oh, and BTW: that initial remark, “Some of you may not know that Switzerland is almost equally divided into… etc. etc. “ is a real gem. It just denotes in what consideration the average culture of Italian-Americans can be held.Yurihttp://sites.google.com/site/secimpanzipurghetenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8778001285727771343.post-40758676246766753732009-03-07T04:04:00.000-08:002009-03-07T04:04:00.000-08:00I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW...<BR/><BR/>1. "I would like to know how Ticino was first settled?" asked one woman from California. "Why isn't it part of Italy?”<BR/>2. "Due to the language barrier we have not learnt much about Ticino's history," stated another respondent. "Who do the Ticinese people identify with, the Swiss or Italians?"<BR/>(… omissis …)<BR/>I THINK I CAN ANSWER THESE TWO…<BR/>1. The name derives from that of its main river, the Ticino (German: Tessin). <BR/>About its settlement and history, google up "Canton Ticino", the answers are given (both Italian and English) by Wikipedia. <BR/>2. “LANGUAGE BARRIER” IS A VULGAR EXCUSE: IT’S NOT EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO BRING IT DOWN, JUST LEARN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE.THE TICINESI FEEL SWISS.WHEN IT COMES TO BANKING AND TAXATION, ITALIAN WHEN IT COMES TO PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING ELSE, INCLUDING FOOD, WAY OF LIFE AND LANGUAGE – THEY SPEAK ITALIAN, EVEN IF WITH SOME PARTICULARITIES. Since they are Italians they are, also, snubbed by their French and German co-nationals.Yurihttp://sites.google.com/site/secimpanzipurghetenoreply@blogger.com