The migration experiences of the past often generated financial flows linked to remittances or capital repatriation, whose main market was the private construction sector. It usually consisted of the construction of dwellings intended to complete the conservative project of the return to the homeland and represent the success of the personal career. The article draws on two real estate projects realized in two Swiss towns to show how, for two figures with a migration background from the mid-19th century onwards, the construction sector represented an entrepreneurial strategy based on a different balance between philanthropic idealism and speculative logic.
Keywords: return emigration, emigration induced, construction industry, real estate investments, philanthropy

The migration experiences of the past often generated financial flows linked to remittances or capital repatriation, whose main market was the private construction sector. It usually consisted of the construction of dwellings intended to complete the conservative project of the return to the homeland and represent the success of the personal career. The article draws on two real estate projects realized in two Swiss towns to show how, for two figures with a migration background from the mid-19th century onwards, the construction sector represented an entrepreneurial strategy based on a different balance between philanthropic idealism and speculative logic.
Keywords: return emigration, emigration induced, construction industry, real estate investments, philanthropy

The article looks at the effects of emigration through altruistic and redistributive uses of remittances sent and earnings brought back home by emigrants. Through case studies of altruistic and redistributive mechanisms, it explores the roles of family strategies and processes of commonization through the public administration of legacies and benefices, focusing on testamentary legacies and ecclesiastical benefices created by emigrants in their places of origin in Italian Switzerland during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Keywords: effects of emigration, altruism, charity, philanthropy, family

The article looks at the effects of emigration through altruistic and redistributive uses of remittances sent and earnings brought back home by emigrants. Through case studies of altruistic and redistributive mechanisms, it explores the roles of family strategies and processes of commonization through the public administration of legacies and benefices, focusing on testamentary legacies and ecclesiastical benefices created by emigrants in their places of origin in Italian Switzerland during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Keywords: effects of emigration, altruism, charity, philanthropy, family

This article examines emigration from the Alpine district of Gornji Grad between the late 19th century and the early 20th century, focusing on the interplay between environmental constraints and human agency. It analyzes how hereditary and marriage customs, timber cutting and rafting, and migration functioned as adaptive responses to environmental limitations and as agents for economic diversification. The study also explores the reciprocal effects of migration through financial and social remittances.
Keywords: alpine communities, Gornji Grad, migration, integrated peasant economy, financial and social remittances

This article examines emigration from the Alpine district of Gornji Grad between the late 19th century and the early 20th century, focusing on the interplay between environmental constraints and human agency. It analyzes how hereditary and marriage customs, timber cutting and rafting, and migration functioned as adaptive responses to environmental limitations and as agents for economic diversification. The study also explores the reciprocal effects of migration through financial and social remittances.
Keywords: alpine communities, Gornji Grad, migration, integrated peasant economy, financial and social remittances

The Swiss Canton of Neuchâtel was able to develop and become one of the country’s economic poles—particularly in the export of watches—thanks to the movement of emigrants to Europe and European immigrants to Switzerland. At the same time, missionaries, explorers, and businessmen left Neuchâtel to travel to the colonial world. Historiography has never linked these two migratory phenomena. This article aims to fill this gap. On the one side, it will provide an overview of the existing historiography. On the other, through some case studies, it will propose evidence and new research approaches. The result will be an invitation to de-Europeanize the history of Neuchâtel in order to inscribe it into the global history of the colonial era.
Keywords: colonial migration, colonial trade, economic development, economic and family networks, de-Europeanization

The Swiss Canton of Neuchâtel was able to develop and become one of the country’s economic poles—particularly in the export of watches—thanks to the movement of emigrants to Europe and European immigrants to Switzerland. At the same time, missionaries, explorers, and businessmen left Neuchâtel to travel to the colonial world. Historiography has never linked these two migratory phenomena. This article aims to fill this gap. On the one side, it will provide an overview of the existing historiography. On the other, through some case studies, it will propose evidence and new research approaches. The result will be an invitation to de-Europeanize the history of Neuchâtel in order to inscribe it into the global history of the colonial era.
Keywords: colonial migration, colonial trade, economic development, economic and family networks, de-Europeanization

Switzerland and Slovenia are characterized by different historical developments that have shaped their urban and industrial development, social characteristics, and identity dynamics. However, they share some geographical similarities: they all encompass mountainous regions, have a widespread integrated peasant economy, and have experienced significant cross-border migration and mobility events. Influenced by the different historical roles of the border, the migration practices that developed between the 18th and the first half of the 20th century had a significant impact on the specificities of the economic and social development of the border areas of the two countries.

Switzerland and Slovenia are characterized by different historical developments that have shaped their urban and industrial development, social characteristics, and identity dynamics. However, they share some geographical similarities: they all encompass mountainous regions, have a widespread integrated peasant economy, and have experienced significant cross-border migration and mobility events. Influenced by the different historical roles of the border, the migration practices that developed between the 18th and the first half of the 20th century had a significant impact on the specificities of the economic and social development of the border areas of the two countries.