In 472 days instead of 80 …

Cevio? Cavergno? Maggia Valley? Val Bavona? Have you heard of them? Sure, because in recent weeks these villages and valleys in Ticino have been in our news because they were devastated by severe weather. People lost their lives, others had to be evacuated. Landslides occurred in various places and roads were closed for days. In Cevio, the Visletto bridge, which is important for the village, was swept away by the masses of water. Thanks to a large-scale operation led by the army, the road connection was restored with a 60-metre-long emergency bridge over the Maggia. But there is still a lot to do before everyday life can return.

A look at history

If you would like to take these sad events as an opportunity to learn more about the history of this beautiful region in the south of our country, you can visit the Museo di Valmaggia in Cevio. A permanent exhibition there preserves valuable historical heritage that provides an insight into the life of the population of one of our most important southern Alpine valleys. Back then, the inhabitants used the land for agriculture and livestock farming. But for many it was not enough to provide for the family. They moved to Venice, Padua, Flanders or even Hungary as seasonal labourers. The largest exodus took place in the second half of the 19^th century, with the population of Cavergno falling from 450 to 360 between 1850 and 1920. The lure of gold in Australia and America and the hope of a better future attracted them. Several important and wealthy families relocated to Locarno in the 19^th century, but remained attached to the valley. One of them was the Balli family. This family can be traced back to the 15^th century and lead to various places in Europe, where they worked as architects, bricklayers, chimney sweeps, but also as merchants. Thanks to the money they earned in this way, they were able to provide a better life for their family members who had stayed in Ticino or returned there. They were able to train, study or even travel the world. Emilio Balli’s father, Valentino Alessandro Balli, traded in fabrics in Freiburg im Breisgau and worked for the family’s trading house in Holland until 1848, when he returned to Locarno and was able to live off his earnings. Almost all of his eleven children died at a young age. Emilio was the youngest of the children and was born on 27 April 1855. He received a first-class education at the Barnabite College in Monza and studied natural sciences at the University of Leuven in Belgium. As can be seen from letters to his brothers, he was interested in the natural sciences from an early age, amassed collections of plants, shells and stones and was fortunate enough to work with scholars who encouraged him to continue on this path. A special exhibition at the Museo di Valmaggia is dedicated to Emilio Balli until 31 October 2024.

The emergence of tourism

For centuries, people’s radius of movement was more or less limited to their immediate surroundings, and it had previously been virtually impossible for private individuals to venture on long journeys. In the 1870s, however, tourism picked up speed. New technical achievements such as the steam engine and the telegraph, as well as transcontinental railways, shipping lines and the opening of the Suez Canal (1869) and later the Panama Canal (1914) opened up a worldwide network of travel options that were reliably available and even made world travel possible. Magellan had already travelled around the world between 1519 and 1522, and several seafarers had followed him. These voyages of discovery were commissioned by wealthy patrons and pursued military, political or scientific goals.

Round-the-world voyages
as a new opportunity

A supporting event for a new development was Jules Verne’s feature article published in “Le Temps” in 1872: “Le Tour du Monde en 80 jours”. Whereas 30 years earlier it had taken 100 days to circumnavigate the globe, the competition was now on to beat Jules Verne’s mark. World’s fairs made it possible for the less daring to “travel” around the world in a single day. It was therefore in keeping with the trend of the time that Emilio Balli, aged just 23, responded to an advert in the “Journal de Genève” in which the Sociéte d’Etudes Autour du Monde (Sweam) offered round-the-world trips. The offer was aimed at young men from good families who had completed their classical education. Two teachers were available on the ship, a series of lectures and an extensive library were offered. Emilio Balli saw this journey as an excellent opportunity to put his passions to the test. The Ticino native from the Maggia Valley was one of the few hundred Europeans who were lucky enough to undertake such a round-the-world voyage in those years. It was planned to take 320 days, starting from Marseille, and the cost was between 15,000 and 20,000 francs, depending on the choice of cabin. That was a lot of money, as the annual salary of a miner at the time was 1400 francs. Emilio Balli had both a wealthy family background and an educational background with a degree that predestined him for this voyage. His circumnavigation ultimately lasted 472 days and was not without unexpected events. It began on 2 August 1878 in Marseille, when 20 tourists and a crew of 75 boarded the small ocean liner “Junon”.

Onwards on their own

From Marseille, the journey continued via Gibraltar and Madeira to the Cape Verde Islands, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. The ship then reached the southernmost point of the voyage, the Strait of Magellan, before finally arriving in the port of Panama on 14 November 1878. Here the passengers were informed that Sweam was no longer able to raise the funds to hire the ship. Continue the voyage or return home by the shortest route? Emilio Balli decided to continue travelling on his own. In a letter to his brothers, he wrote: “Whether good or bad, on foot, by swimming, by coach or by rubber dinghy, I will definitely be travelling around this funny world”. Emilio Balli took the risk and continued his journey together with Alfred Bertrand from Geneva. They went to Niagara Falls (see picture) and travelled through the USA. In San Francisco, he met fellow Ticinese whose appreciation surprised and touched him.

Japan and China

From San Francisco, he set off on the almost month-long crossing to Yokohama in Japan, one of the five Japanese harbours that had been forced open to American merchant ships. Emilio Balli stayed in this country for two months. He was fascinated by its culture, as were the Impressionists at the end of the 19^th century, who were inspired by the masterful Japanese woodcuts. The lacquer artworks and porcelain also caught his attention and he sent boxes full of souvenirs, photos and collector’s coins back home.
  His journey took him on to China, which was difficult to access at the time. At the time, China was seen in the West as a country threatened with extinction. It had been defeated in the Opium Wars by the USA, the United Kingdom and France, and their troops had destroyed, devastated and looted the emperor’s summer palace. Even though Emilio Balli was critical of this, he adopted the Western prejudices against the great empire and its people. His interest again focussed more on the arts and crafts tradition, and many enamel works and porcelain objects found their way into his collection. After his two-month stay in China, Emilio Balli returned to Marseille after 472 days, travelling via Singapore, India and Egypt.

Agricultural and
cultural commitment

After returning home, the young and innovative Emilio Balli did not stand idle. Although he was weakened because he suffered from malaria, caught in India, he remained undeterred. Thanks to his scientific knowledge, he became an important agricultural economic expert and was involved in various commissions and cooperatives. He also converted his large agricultural estate in Selva into a model farm. There was a vineyard, a large peach orchard and asparagus cultivation as well as stables for cattle and chickens. Concerning his cultural interests, he focussed on natural history, numismatics and archaeology. He also supported the first archaeological excavations in Tenero, which revealed over a hundred tombs from the first centuries after Christ. He owned a large collection of seashells he had found at seashores, and bought or bartered on markets. He also had a herbarium with plants, a collection of stones and minerals which he expanded, and further memorabilia from the countries he travelled. These included many photos that were taken by studios specially created for tourists and offered for sale. These things were the fundus, Emilio had brought with him or handed over to the uncertain fate of the postal service at that time. Other memorabilia were transported home by ship (unfortunately some of them got lost).

His dream of a museum

A major concern that occupied him throughout his life was the planning of a city museum in Locarno. A museum society, founded for this purpose, helped to realize the project. Finally, the museum was opened on May 13, 1900 within three rooms of the “Alla Motta” municipal school. For over three decades, Balli was the soul of the museum. He supported the museum itself as its director, shareholder, and collector. He spent more than 1000 objects from his private collection to the museum. There were other collectors who joined him, so that a versatile natural history resulted. – During the post war period the museum experienced difficult times. The repeated change of the museum premises, disinterested politicians and an ever-shrinking museum association caused the museum’s lustre to fade. Emilio Balli stuck with it, and until his death in 1934, he devoted all his energy for the further development of the museum.

A new treasure to be discovered

At the end of 2018, the Museo di Valmaggia was informed by the great-grandson Alessandro Botteri Balli of a virtually unpublished archive of the Balli family that is as extensive as it is valuable. Naturally, the museum in Cevio was very interested, even though it was clear that it was taking on the important and challenging task of making a rich selection of documents and artefacts accessible to the public in an extraordinary exhibition – for the first time in over 140 years. The carefully kept travel diary that Emilio Balli compiled stage by stage, the numerous letters to his brothers, the many photos and the collections of shells, herbs, flowers, animals and curiosities are valuable testimonies and documents that can now be rediscovered in Cevio. Visitors can experience what a great adventure travelling the world was back then.

A visit to the museum –
a world for children?

The exhibition is also exciting for children and young people and gives them an insight into the challenges that people faced in the past and how they mastered them! However, it requires the accompanying adults to take an interest and, if necessary, familiarise themselves with it, as each of the exhibited objects and letters tells a story. They can open the children’s and young people’s eyes to other cultures with different customs, traditions, ways of life and wonderful handicrafts. In the past, voyages of discovery were often characterised by Western arrogance. This is an opportunity to promote respect and understanding of other living environments and human coexistence in peace.
  The book “In 472 Tagen um die Welt. Reiseerinnerungen eines Schweizer Globetrotters 1878–79” (Around the world in 472 days. Memoirs of a Swiss Globetrotter 1878-79) was published to complement the exhibition. In knowledgeable, easy-to-read articles and with many photographs and maps (showing the route of the journey), it sheds light on the historical, geographical and political environment in which Emilio Balli’s round-the-world trip took place. It provides an in-depth insight into the culture of the countries travelled to, especially Japan and China, and is available in German, French and Italian. The publication also offers an opportunity to show children and young people how new knowledge can be acquired and what books can contribute to this.  •

Sources:
Botteri Balli, Alessandro; Pieroni, Raphaël; Staszak, Jean-François (eds.). In 472 Tagen um die Welt. Reiseerinnerungen eines Schweizer Globetrotters 1878–79. (Around the world in 472 days. Memoirs of a Swiss Globetrotter 1878-79). Locarno: Armando Dadò Editore, 2024; available at the Museo di Valmaggia or from bookshops (ISBN 978-88-8281-696-4)
Publications on the museum’s exhibition

Information on the exhibition:
“Il Giro del Mondo di Emilio Balli 1878–1879”

Museo di Valmaggia, Cevio vecchio 6/12,
CH-6675 Cevio; until 31 October 2024;
www.museovalmaggia.ch