More than 140 years after the voyage and nearly 90 years after his death, the Maggia Valley Museum – based in Cevio – dedicates an exhibition to Emilio Balli, to recall his figure and his singular feat, accomplished between 1878 and 1879.
In presenting the initiative, Elio Genazzi, President of the museum, underlined how this exhibition «widely exceeds the local dimensions and can rightfully be counted among the four most important exhibitions held this year in Ticino. The project was made possible thanks to the availability and opening of Emilio Balli's archive, carefully kept at home for years, and to research and study carried out in collaboration with the University's Geography and Environment Faculty. of Geneva".
«The importance of this exhibition - continues Elio Genazzi - lies in the fact that starting from the XNUMXs it had become possible to go around the world as a tourist, but it was still a complex adventure and not without risks, but above all economically within the reach of a few. Coming from a wealthy family, Emilio Balli, only twenty-three years old, could afford it. However, an experience faced with the maturity, determination and curiosity of the scholar, making the most of it, told through a rich and interesting epistolary of letters written to the brothers, countless photographs, as well as a significant number of memorabilia collected, consisting of collections of shells, herbs and flowers, stuffed animals, coins and various objects mixed with "souvenirs" purchased in various curiosity shops».
Originally from the Maggia valley, Emilio Balli was born in Locarno on 27 April 1855. His father, Valentino Alessandro Balli, emigrated to Holland, where he gained a position in the business sector. Emilio, the youngest of eleven children, attended the boarding school of the Barnabite fathers in Monza and then continued his studies at the University of Louvain, in Belgium. Right from the start he proved to be a curious person and attentive to aspects related to man and nature. Inspired by reading Jules Verne's freshly printed book (1872), "Around the World in 80 Days," he was drawn to the advertisements for a round-the-world trip for scholars. Endowed with a great pioneering spirit, he did not hesitate to sign up and set off on this 472-day adventure. Upon his return, enriched by his experience, he dedicated his life to Ticino and its inhabitants, distinguishing himself in particular in the fields of archeology, numismatics and natural sciences. He was one of the founders of the Ticino Society of Natural Sciences and therefore the forerunner of the Locarno Museum, which he directed for many years, almost until his death in 1934.
Great-grandson Alessandro Botteri Balli was present at the meeting to present the exhibition, and he recounted the passion with which not only the memory but also the documentation and souvenirs of that great-grandfather's epic journey were handed down and preserved within the family. «His journey started from Marseilles to then reach Madeira and, after crossing the Atlantic, New York. After visiting various Latin American countries, he traveled through the United States and Canada to then move on to Japan and China where he stayed for a long time and where he collected the greatest number of testimonies. From the various stops he had sent to Locarno crates with various objects, purchased to satisfy his scientific curiosity about him. Many of these are on display in this exhibition for the first time. On his return, the great-grandfather contributed to the opening of the civic museum in Locarno, which collects archaeological, scientific, naturalistic and ethnographic material. A collection that has largely been merged into the Cantonal Museum of Natural History in Lugano and which will return to the Locarno area with the new headquarters at the Santa Caterina».5
The University of Geneva participated in the scientific conception of Emilio Balli's tour of the world exhibition as part of the research program called “Faire le monde. First globetrotters and tourist tours of the world (1869-1914)”, funded by the Swiss National Research Foundation and directed by professor Jean-François Staszak.
This program sits at the intersection of cultural geography, travel history, and visual studies. As Professor Staszak explained, «the world tour does not concern only a privileged few who had the time and the means to undertake this long and costly journey “from life”. A whole series of textual, visual and scenographic devices allows everyone to take a tour of the virtual world, reading a diary, leafing through a photo album or visiting an international exhibition. In this way, the globe and its journey has become a major motif in popular culture. The research program examines how a new tourism practice, on a global scale, emerged in the late XNUMXth century and how it contributed to the creation of a new regime of geography in the context of globalization and modernity.'
