swissinfo has launched an interactive, multimedia special [website] aimed at people whose ancestors left Italian-speaking Switzerland for a better life abroad.
The second half of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th was a period of great upheaval as millions of Europeans migrated to North and South America and Australia. Italian-speaking regions of Switzerland were profoundly affected.
“We shall not stay long” includes background texts, interviews with experts and multimedia reports investigating the conditions that led to the migrations, the eventual journey into the unknown for tens of thousands and the world these “emigranti” would eventually find.
Interactive elements include a blog, picture upload, and genealogical database and are designed to bring together people with a common heritage – regardless of what part of the world they now live in.
Read the full article about the new “We Shall Not Stay Long” website in the March 5, 2009 edition of swissinfo.ch.