I was sitting in a grotto in southern Switzerland, savouring a regional version of risotto made with local merlot, surrounded by vibrant green mountains and down the road from a centuries-old stone village that to this day has refused electricity.
Both my lunch mates were Swiss, though one spoke Italian and the other preferred German. For my benefit, they switched to English. Even the way the country is set up seems like the epitome of peaceful coexistence. Ticino and the passage to the Alps were strategically important in Swiss military history Credit: Billie Cohen.
Gears started to click into place in my mind. The stone citadels, collectively a Unesco World Heritage Site , are reminders of a long history of tribes, cantons and countries that all tried to control strategically important Ticino and the passage to the Alps. The Swiss had quite the military history, and it was definitely not neutral.
The answer: nowhere. At the end of the Middle Ages, neutrality was far from having the positive connotation it can have today. The Confederates then lived in a world which made a clear distinction between just and unjust wars. In a feudal order represented by the Emperor, who himself held power directly from God, not taking a position in favour of the just cause was frowned upon.
Lansquenet in red: Painting by Fernand Hodler Winterthur, Oskar Reinhart Stiftung. The painter has dedicated different paintings to Marignan. They caused a scandal in A very important effect.
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