Poschiavo adventures in Europe

From the middle of the 18th century to the first decades of the 20th century, hundreds of young people from Graubünden left their valleys to seek their fortune abroad as confectioners, coffee makers or liqueur producers. They opened their own businesses in the centers of major European cities. Thanks to the quality of their products, they soon made a name for themselves and their cafés became an exclusive meeting place for the up-and-coming European bourgeoisie. Many Valposchiavini were among the protagonists of this particular form of emigration. The temporary exhibition in the Palazzo de Bassus-Mengotti follows in the footsteps of the emigrants, describes their motives, looks at the art of confectionery in the history of food, presents the social role of the cafés and the work of their operators and finally shows how this emigration contributed to the architectural renewal of the village of Poschiavo. The exhibition includes a café where you can order a Bollo Suizo, a kind of Weggli that was offered in Bilbao at the beginning of the 19th century by two confectioners from Poschiavo and which over time became one of the most famous pastries of Spanish confectionery. Do you have ancestors who emigrated as confectioners? Then you have the opportunity to take part in an interactive map of the cafés of Valposchiavo in Europe and add information from your own family memories and old or current pictures.