This dynamic intellectual and artistic couple headed to Switzerland to avoid imprisonment, torture, forced labour and even death, like many intellectuals, writers and politicians before and after them:
Such as Carlo Cattaneo and Giuseppe Mazzini two major figures of the Italian Risorgimento, the movement for Italy’s unification (mid-19th century); or the German writer and Nobel Prize winner Herman Hesse (1919).

I am proud that my country offered all these inspiring people a safe and fruitful place for their political ideas as well as for their cultural work.

Having grown up in this region – and returning here at weekends (as soon as I can) to recharge my batteries after intense weeks in Bern – I fully understand how my native Ticino, with its light and atmosphere, can fuel such inspiration.

Ladies and gentlemen

Aspazija and Rainis were leading voices in the Latvian national awakening movement, not only through their political engagement, but also through their literary works.

The ongoing bilateral relations between Switzerland and Latvia are a testament to the values of democracy and freedom that these two great poets and patriots embodied.

In 2021, we marked two milestones: 100 years since Switzerland recognized Latvia’s independence, and 30 years since we resumed diplomatic ties.

On this occasion, I travelled to Riga to celebrate with you, and I was struck by the impressive Nature and monuments of your country—especially the National Library, whose silhouette strikingly echoes the contours of our Monte San Salvatore!

The following year, in 2022, as President of the Swiss Confederation, I had the honour of welcoming President Egils Levits to Lugano.
We visited the «Museo Rainis e Aspazija», which is dedicated to the time this remarkable poet couple spent in Ticino in exile – writing some of their most powerful works.

Today, we have not one but two new, visible signs on the map celebrating our friendship:

Cérémonie d’inauguration de la «Via Rainis e Aspazija»