Let's start talking about cultural diplomacy, starting from an event: next September 21st you will be a guest at the European Parliament in Brussels for the closing conference of the COST Action "Underground4value", at which you will represent Switzerland as a member of the Steering Committee. What does it mean to participate in such an event?
«It will certainly be a special day which will also bring together some members of the EU Parliament, representatives of the European Commission and other international institutions and cultural heritage experts. When in 2021 the Swiss National Fund designated me as a Swiss member of the committee of this COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) action, I hoped to be able to convince colleagues representing other states to hold one of the scientific meetings in our country. Last September we managed to present the case of the nevere on Monte Generoso at the conference held in 2022 at the SUPSI campus in Mendrisio, thanks to the synergy between the association of the most beautiful villages in Switzerland with other local subjects and entities, such as theOTR Mendrisiotto and Basso Ceresio and the Ethnographic Museum of the Muggio Valley. It was a beautiful showcase of our territory, and in particular for Sottoceneri, with experts from over 30 countries meeting here in Ticino. In these scientific conferences there is also the aspect of conviviality which plays an important role in establishing profitable relationships with colleagues from other nations, from which further projects can then arise. This also applies in the case of meetings with the different associations of the “Les Plus Beaux Villages de la Terre” Federation: I still remember a pleasant conversation, regarding the historical relations between the Confederation and Vaduz, during a lunch with Daniel Risch, the current first minister of the principality of Liechtenstein, in Triesenberg, on the occasion of the visit of the Spaniard Francisco Mestre, at the time president of the Federation".
So we could talk about a "cultural diplomacy" between Switzerland and European countries, but also between the regions of the Confederation, which often don't know each other so well...
«Certainly in this sense I was happy to see the positive results the novel had The black Schumacher, of which I have historically edited the translation with the addition of my appendix on the centuries-old relations between Zug and Ticino, published specifically on the 600th anniversary of the battle of Arbedo. The presentation of the book, also mentioned in the speech of the President of the Confederation in conjunction with the celebrations to commemorate the war, actually led to the establishment of excellent relations between the Bürgergemeinde of Zug and the Municipality of Arbedo-Castione. It is truly a source of satisfaction to think that all this could take shape from a simple book."
Last spring you were invited to the Vatican to the Swiss evening organized for the first time in the courtyard of San Damaso on the occasion of the celebrations of the opening of the Embassy of the Confederation to the Holy See. Can we talk about the "soft power" of culture?
«It was a historic moment, considering that relations between the Vatican and Bern have not always been simple, particularly in the XNUMXth century. My presence was linked to two of my books. The first, The black Schumacher, was in fact written by Joseph Spillmann who belonged by vocation to the Jesuits, i.e. the same order as the Holy Father. The second volume, which I also delivered that evening to Colonel Christoph Graf, illustrates the village of Ernen, focusing on the history of the small village, on the 500th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Schiner. The latter was a controversial figure, but at the same time fundamental for the Swiss history of the XNUMXth century."
