On September 18, 2026, Locarno will add a new place to its geography of memory. The Garden of the Righteous of Locarno will be inaugurated in the Parco della Pace , a project promoted by the Federica Spitzer Foundation together with the City of Locarno and dedicated to four people who, at different times and through different experiences, chose to intervene in the face of persecution, marginalization, and injustice.
The names chosen are Polia Rusca, Lilly Volkart, Luigi Rusca, and Wladimir Rosenbaum . Four biographies spanning the twentieth century and depicting four different approaches to individual responsibility: from caring for refugee children to aiding political exiles, from medical and social commitment to building places capable of offering protection and freedom of thought.
The goal of the new Garden is not simply to preserve the memory of these figures. The project aims to transform memory into a tool for civic education, connecting past events with issues that remain relevant today: solidarity, freedom, acceptance, and the ability of individuals to take a stand even when circumstances seem to make any choice difficult.
The inauguration concludes a process that began in the spring of 2026, when four separate events explored the stories of the Righteous identified by the Historical Commission. With the opening of the Garden, that work finds a permanent home accessible to the public.
Four biographies related to Locarno
The stories remembered in the Garden have different geographical and professional origins, but they are united by their connection to the Locarno area and the help offered to people exposed to hardship, discrimination, or persecution.
Lilly Volkart , born in Zurich in 1897 and died in Ascona in 1988, dedicated much of her life to humanitarian work, with a particular focus on children. From 1942, she collaborated with the Swiss Relief Committee at the Ascona Kinderheim, where she took in destitute and abandoned children and Jewish orphans. Between 1943 and 1945, she continued her work at a home on Monte Verità for refugee children from Italy.
His story therefore takes place in one of the most dramatic pages in European history and demonstrates the role played by civil assistance in rescuing people forced to leave their countries.
Wladimir Rosenbaum , born in Minsk in 1894 and died in Ascona in 1984, was a lawyer and civil servant of Russian-Jewish origins. Together with his wife, Aline Valangin-Ducommun, he purchased the summer residence La Barca in Comologno , which over the years became a hub for artists and intellectuals.
Among those who frequented the house were Ernesto Rossi, Elias Canetti, Jean-Paul Samson, Kurt Tucholsky, Wladimir Vogel, and Ignazio Silone. Rosenbaum's history is thus also linked to the area's ability to offer hospitality to people from diverse cultural and political backgrounds, in an era marked by authoritarian regimes and persecution.
Luigi Rusca , born in Locarno in 1885 and died in the same city in 1966, was an entrepreneur and manager of the La Carità Hospital. Of radical liberal orientation, he supported the anti-fascist newspaper Avanguardia and, between 1943 and 1945, provided discreet but concrete assistance to political exiles.
His activity therefore developed at a time when the border between Italy and Switzerland also represented a passageway for people seeking refuge from political persecution.
Completing the group is Polia Rusca , born in Cholmetz in 1884 and died in Locarno in 1975. An ophthalmologist of Belarusian origin and wife of the Locarno doctor Franchino Rusca, during the First World War she worked in a Red Cross field hospital in Silesia.
Having moved to Locarno in 1916, she contributed to the hospital's reorganization and devoted a significant portion of her work to caring for children and refugees. She also promoted initiatives for the distribution of clothing and food, and organized blood transfusions and medical courses in the valleys. Her commitment also extended to advocating for women's suffrage and defending women's rights.
Locarno and a long history of hospitality
According to the historian Marino Viganò , who coordinated the work of the Commission charged with identifying the figures to be remembered, the choice of the four names reflects a characteristic that developed in the Locarno area over the course of several centuries.
Indeed, since the late 18th century, the region's geographical position and unique history have contributed to making it a destination for exiles, intellectuals, and people seeking less politically and socially restrictive environments.
The Locarno area thus became a meeting place between Italian cultural traditions and Swiss institutions, encouraging the presence of people and groups seeking alternatives to repressive political systems or particularly rigid social contexts.
From this perspective, the four figures identified by the Commission do not merely represent individual experiences. Their biographies are interpreted as the expression of a broader history, in which acceptance and openness toward others have taken different forms throughout the ages.
From memory to civil responsibility
For Locarno's mayor, Nicola Pini , the new Garden is part of the city's broader reflection on the themes of peace and democracy. In presenting the project, the mayor invoked a principle of the Council of Europe: "Teaching history means building democracy."
The reference to post-World War II European history takes on a special meaning in the Garden's design. The values underlying the creation of the Council of Europe—from cooperation to peaceful coexistence among peoples—are linked to the choices made by the Four Righteous.
The local dimension thus becomes part of a more general reflection. The Garden does not propose an abstract interpretation of peace, but rather begins with personal experiences and concrete decisions made by people who lived in a specific community.
A project that also looks to the new generations
The Federica Spitzer Foundation, the initiative's promoter, has already developed an educational program for Ticino schools. The Lives of the Righteous platform collects materials dedicated to the biographies of the Righteous and, starting in the fall of 2026, will also include the figures commemorated in the new Locarno Garden.
The link will be accessible directly from the memorial site through the website indicated on the commemorative plaque. This way, the visit can be accompanied by a historical exploration of the individual biographies and the period in which they took place.
The Federica Spitzer Foundation, through its website www.fondazionespitzer.ch , thus carries out an activity that combines the preservation of memory with an educational component aimed at younger generations.
A further development of the project is also planned: the research and historical contributions dedicated to the four Righteous will flow into a publication that will be presented in 2027.
The second Garden of the Righteous in Switzerland
The Garden of the Righteous in Locarno will be the second created in Switzerland by the Federica Spitzer Foundation in collaboration with a city authority.
The first was inaugurated in Lugano in 2018 , sparking an experience that is now being revived and developed in the Locarno area. The choice of two Ticino cities allows for the creation of a regional network around the theme of civil memory and the people who, through their actions, have helped protect others in particularly vulnerable situations.
The Locarno Garden was thus created with a dual purpose. On the one hand, it preserves the memory of four people linked to the history of the area; on the other, it offers a space in which to engage with the past through a perspective focused on the present.
Cinema as the second stop of the day
The September 18th program will not end with the afternoon ceremony. At 20:30 pm , at the PalaCinema in Locarno, Irkalla: Gilgamesh's Dream , a 2025 film directed by Iraqi director Mohamed Al-Daradji , will be screened.
The screening, organized in collaboration with the Locarno Film Festival, will be in the original Arabic language with Italian subtitles.
The film follows two children during the Iraq war, from 2016 to 2019. Through their experiences, the work explores loss, memory, and hope, connecting the individual dimension of war to the possibility of imagining a different future.
The choice of film thus complements the central theme of the Garden with a story set in a contemporary context. The connection between the two initiatives is rooted in concepts such as resistance and resilience, but also in the question of what space the individual can have when violence and war seem to prevail.
An event open to the public
The inaugural ceremony of the Garden of the Righteous in Locarno will be held on Friday , September 18, at 17:00 PM in the Parco della Pace . Admission is free.
The second part of the day will begin at 8.30 pm at the PalaCinema in Locarno , with the free screening of Irkalla: Gilgamesh's Dream.
Two different events, but built around the same idea: memory not as a simple celebration of the past, but rather as an opportunity to question individual and collective choices.
In the project of the Federica Spitzer Foundation and the City of Locarno, the biographies of Rusca, Volkart, and Rosenbaum thus become a tool for interpreting a history also made up of everyday gestures, personal decisions, and concrete forms of solidarity. This heritage will have a recognizable place in the city starting September 18th and, through educational activities and the upcoming publication, will continue to be explored over the years.
