Migratory trajectories and daily practices of italian immigrants in switzerland: between literaryfiction and autobiographic narratives

Literary texts may represent significant sources for getting a better understanding of migrant routes and life experiences.In this article, a novel and two diaries are taken into account, in order to focus on the stories of Italians immigrants inSwitzerland, and on their different experiences, from the moment of the departure to the potential homecoming, throughthe ambivalent experience of arrival and settlement in a new society. To be in movement, though a process of constanttransformation, seems to be, for them, the leitmotif of experience. From this constantly changing perspective, even going backis not a return. This awareness brings to the development of unusual routes and unexpected directions.

Keywords: literature, migrations, Switzerland, italians.