Voices from abroad

What do young Swiss abroad think about Switzerland and its politics?

Rome isn’t just home to the Colosseum and thousands of years of history, but also to some Swiss: there are 49,000 people with a Swiss passport living in Italy. Nouvo in English went to meet some of the young Swiss living in the Eternal City to find out what they think of their country of origin. What comes to mind when they think of Switzerland? Will they take part in the upcoming federal elections? What do they, as Swiss abroad, expect from Swiss politics?

Angela Katsikantamis is currently the president of the Unione Giovani SvizzeriExternal link (UGS), an association of young Swiss living in Italy. David Sapienza, from Rome, and David Coli Affolter, from Florence, are members of the UGS and they both participated in a roundtable to discuss these issues at the Swiss club in Rome.

Matilde De Luigi, Giulia Russo Wälti and Emanuel Eichberg all went to the Swiss School in RomeExternal link, an institution founded in 1946, which includes teaching in Swiss national languages, giving its pupils access to Swiss universities. Giulia is currently studying for her bachelor’s degree at the University of Geneva and has happy memories of going to school in Rome.

Federico Trezzini is 24 and currently studying physics at the Sapienza University of Rome. He shared his own video with us, explaining what he thinks about Switzerland.

The same questions were put to young Swiss in different countries. Here are the answers of Simon Kuhn, living in Aachen, Germany, and of two young Swiss abroad living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Josua Wälti and Miriam Simili.