How Swiss cafés fostered the spread of knowledge and progress in Europe

In the 19th century, cafés run by Swiss emigrants from canton Graubünden sprang up in many cities across Europe. They soon became meeting places for the cultural and social elite. From Palermo to Copenhagen, the cafés offered not just culinary innovations and luxurious settings. They were also hubs of literary and political debate, a breeding ground for the spread of new ideas and cultural trends. “The undersigned is pleased to inform the esteemed public that the Italian singers Annato and Perecini shall be performing daily in my marquee at Jægersborg Dyrehave.” It was the 1820s. After her husband died, Barbara Lardelli, from the small town of Poschiavo in Graubünden, ran a café on her own in Copenhagen. In Jægersborgand then in Charlottenlund, on the fringe of a leisure park north of the Danish capital, she not only sold coffee and cakes in the summer months, but also organised musical performances to entertain her customers. A fresh look at emigration It was the dawn of the ...