Vico in Times of war: Views from a Refugee Camp (Stile E Umanita Di Vico) (Critical Essay‪)‬

"Better Kitchen Boy Than King?" Exiles in Switzerland In the first two weeks of September 1943, after Mussolini's fall, throngs of Italian soldiers, politicians, Jews, princes, and antifascists stormed across the Swiss borden On September 5, Marshal Badoglio's daughter and daughter-in-law arrived at Vevey together with the family of the Minister of the Royal House, Piero Acquarone. On the night of September 8, the day of the armistice, Maria Jose of Savoy, Princess of Piedmont, turned up at the St. Bernard Hostel with her four children, prompting the receptionist to add to his report the ironic comment "En ces temps troubles, il vaut mieux etre marmiton que Roi," or better kitchen boy than king (Broggini 1993, 65). The receptionist at the St. Bernard, however, did not foresee the exodus of thousands of less fortunate refugees, following the arrival of the many distinguished exiles after the Wehrmacht occupation of numerous strategic areas in Northern Italy. More than 29,000 soldiers, 6,000 Jews (4,300 Italian and 1,700 displaced Jews living in Italy), and a number of other civilians entered Swiss territory in early September 1943 and later (Broggini 1993, 642; 1998, 117). (1) Ticinese witnesses speak of "streams of people" (fiumane) walking through the main streets of their villages, with 10,000 refugees passing into Swiss territory on the day of September 17 alone.