Lia - Roots on the Move

Event details

Date

From Thu, 10 to Sun, 13 December

Place

Le Manège

Genre

Theatre and performing arts

Organiser

Pont d'Art

Description

Lia – Roots on the Move is an intimate yet collective theatrical narrative about Italian migration to Switzerland in the aftermath of the Second World War. Through the eyes of Lia, or rather Rosalia, a Swiss doctor of Sicilian descent, the play retraces her family's history: her father Giacomo's departure from Palermo to the canton of Valais as a seasonal worker, the forced separation from his wife Lucia and their daughter, the Mattmark disaster, the clandestine lives of children forced into hiding, the climate of xenophobia during the Schwarzenbach years, and the long journey towards integration, dignity, and citizenship. Through postcards, fairy tales told over the telephone, workers' dormitories, cardboard suitcases, and the first encounter with snow, Lia explores the memories of an entire generation of Italian migrants who were forced to live suspended between two countries and two identities. Her family's personal story becomes intertwined with the broader history of modern Switzerland: seasonal work permits, the struggles of the Colonie Libere Italiane (Free Italian Colonies), referendums against foreigners, the fight for civil rights, and the abolition of the A permit in 2002. Blending poetry, irony, and historical testimony, Lia – Roots on the Move gives a voice to those who remained invisible for decades. A work about memory, family legacy, and the universal need to belong somewhere without having to renounce one's roots.