Einweihungszeremonie der «Via Rainis e Aspazija»

Dear Minister
Onorevoli municipali della Città di Lugano
Excellencies,
Dear guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to welcome you in my home canton Ticino to celebrate the lasting relations between Latvia and Switzerland.

Our historical, cultural, and intellectual bonds are profound and meaningful: one of the most compelling chapters in our common history is written here in Castagnola, in the lives and legacy of Latvia’s great poets and patriots, Rainis and Aspazija.

Aspazija and Rainis not only shaped their nation’s literary landscape: together they played a key role in its political and social movements.

Their works reflect the spirit of freedom, the longing for justice and the hope for a better future.

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:

• One here in Castagnola, where the municipality of Lugano has made a significant gesture with the newly dedicated Via Rainis e Aspazija, not only preserving the past but also projecting this legacy into the future.
• And the other earlier today, on the initiative of the Municipality of Jurmala and the Swiss embassy in Riga – a Castagnola Street inaugurated in this beautiful Latvian city with close ties to the story of Rainis and Aspazija.

Dear guests,

As we commemorate the life and work of these two free-spirited poets, let us remember that their story is also a wide testament to the power of art and intellect in shaping the future.

As former French prime-minister Edouard Herriot once said: «Culture is what remains after all else is forgotten.»

In these challenging times, it is essential to be here together to celebrate our deep cultural ties.

Let us not forget our common roots and cherish them!

Paldies!