The magical closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics was directed by the SWISS-ITALIAN Daniele Finzi Pasca.

Both the BBC and the LATimes misidentified Mr. Pasca as Italian. The man the Russians chose to give a “fresh look” to the ceremony comes from tiny Ticino.

(all photos are from the Compagnia Finzi Pasca website)
He also will be creating and directing the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympics in Sochi.

Daniele Finzi Pasca is an extremely well-regarded theater director; he founded the Teatro Sunil in the early ’80s, together with his brother Marco and Maria Bonzanigo, calling their theater technique “theatre of the caress”. Pasca’s ‘Icaro’has been translated into six languages and performed hundreds of times all over the world. In 2005, he wrote and directed the Cirque du Soleil’s show ‘Corteo”, which apparently has been seen by more than 3 million people. His Compagnia Finzi Pasca has put on a variety of theater and opera productions, and his first movie, ‘Piazza San Michele’ is in the works. All of his productions are known for their artistic excellence: when I think of them I think of whimsy and soaring creativity. I am fascinated by the Swiss who make their way into the world, and in Mr. Pasca’s case, quite literally play on the world stage.

On their way

The Carnevale Season has started again in Switzerland. It’s basically a pre-Lenten celebration, but the span of events run from weeks ahead of Ash Wednesday to weeks after. The Basel Fasnacht is the largest and probably most famous of all Swiss Carnevale and that begins the Monday following Ash Wednesday. In Ticino it is a festive period, with every single community – all 135 of them – organizing their own Carnevale. Pura’s festivities took place last weekend. My favorite part of it is on Friday, when the entire school, which in Pura means the kindergarden and 1-5 elementary classes, empties out in costume to parade through our little village.

They wind their way through the ‘nucleo’ and head to the soccer field where under a giant tent lunch is served for both the children and elders of Pura.

Casting my vote

In a stunning shift, the Swiss decided to accept the ultra-conservative SVP initiative extending immigration quotas to EU nationals. It was accepted by a hair-thin 50.3%, with 49.7% voting to reject it. Voter turnout was one of the highest in years, 55.8%. As I feared, the canton of Ticino did indeed vote in favor or it, but what was incredible was the scale of the support – a whopping 68.2%. In Pura, 408 people voted for the initiative (70.34%) while 171 people and I (29.66%) voted against it.I never thought it was going to be that high. Of course, ever since the vote on Sunday, the newspaper headlines trumpet the obvious consequences. Our Corriere del Ticino’s banner headline on Monday: Free Movement of People Stops; Tuesday: Switzerland Will Have Serious Problems; Wednesday: The European Union Pulls the Plug; today, The European Union Closes the Door.
What were the Swiss thinking? A twitter posting from the German SPD politician Ralf Stegner: “Die spinnen, die Schweizer”, The Swiss, they’re crazy.

It’s a beautiful day, in the middle of the wettest winter that I can remember, and it’s an important voting day. I always say, with admiration, that Switzerland has a strong and supple democracy, one that gives great power to its people. Our system of direct democracy means that any referendum or initiative which gathers 100,000 signatures can force a ballot. One of the items, the most significant one, that we are voting on today is the initiative, which got 135,000 signatures, put forward by the extreme right Swiss People’s Party (SVP) which would reintroduce immigration quotas, extending the quotas to EU nationals as well. This would blow up Switzerland’s carefully constructed set of bilateral agreements with the EU and gravely endanger Switzerland’s economic health. I can’t remember another vote in which government AND industry have so loudly banged the drums against a proposal. I have been at home in this country for 31 years, and I am deeply connected to my little village of Pura in this tiny canton of Ticino. But everyone I talk to says that Ticino is going to vote for this initiative. I received a telephone call this morning from a young guy that I know, who has been eligible to vote for 5 years. I was surprised to hear from him – it had been months since I had seen him, and it was 10:30 am on a Sunday. He was calling to ask, as he had never voted before and “since you always know how things work here”, where the voting place was and when it closed. Despite the fact that his mother is from Poland and I am American – and Swiss thanks to my marriage to a Swiss –  he told me that he HAS to vote on this initiative and he is voting for it. His reasoning is that Switzerland is becoming a country only for the rich and that in 10 years he won’t be able to even buy a house here, that he will have to buy a house in Italy in order to find something affordable.

SVP street billboard

This vote is important – and I am worried.