The Alpine region suffers a labour shortage for the massive construction projects undertaken during the period known as the Belle Époque: hotels, roads and railways are therefore built by migrants. Construction sites in Vorarlberg and Tyrol mainly employ men drawn from the area of “Welsch-Tirol”, now known as Trentino. With them they bring experience in masonry and brickwork; they drive tunnels and galleries into the rock and build bridges and mountain passes. Over 6,000 foreign workers are employed in the Engadin Valley between 1880 and 1914, with most coming from the Valtellina and other parts of Lombardy.
The work is hard and dangerous; accidents repeatedly happen. Many workers nevertheless bring new co-workers from their home villages, with the people of entire regions becoming fixed in a cycle of leaving, working through the building season, then returning home.
Bildlegenden
1.
Foto Bauarbeiter Berninabahn
Group photo taken in front of a tunnel on the Bernina railway, which has linked St. Moritz with northern Italy since 1910. Around 1,000 workers go on strike here in 1907 to protest against the harsh working conditions in the Alpine climate. The army puts down the strike by force – yet the workers secure their first concessions, including a 10-hour working day and pay rises.
iSTORIA Archivi fotografici Valposchiavo
2. + 3.
Foto Bau Palace Hotel St. Moritz + Foto Bau Hotel Carlton
Around 150 seasonal workers are needed to build a typical grand hotel. The photographs show the construction of the Palace Hotel (opened in 1896) and the Hotel Carlton (opened in 1913), both in St. Moritz.
Archiv culturel d’Engiadin’Ota, Zuoz
Dokumentationsbibliothek St. Moritz
4.
Foto Bau Brennerlinie (TAP L371)
There are 20,600 workers employed on the construction of the Brenner railway line, with some 14,000 from Italy: around 200 lose their lives in the process. The image shows a bank structure near the village of Matrei am Brenner. The first train travels the line in 1867, which is extended to Meran in 1881.
Tiroler Archiv für photographische Dokumentation und Kunst, Lienz
5.
Foto Baracken Albulatunnel (Terra Grischun,a 2/2014, S. 14 / Wiki commons)
From 1903 on, the Albula railway links the Engadin with Chur and the rest of the Swiss rail network. During the construction of the Albula Tunnel, around 1,300 workers live in two temporary settlements comprising 25 huts – some even with their families. A doctor and several Italian nurses look after the sick and injured, while a Catholic priest celebrates Mass and an Italian teacher educates the children in a specially-built school.
Fotostiftung Graubünden, Chur
Giovanni/Johann Bertolini (1859 Romallo – 1931 Egg)
Kartentext (Hier zweiteilig: eigenständige Biotafel + Karte!)
From the age of twelve, Giovanni Bertolini moves from one construction site to another – as a labourer, an apprentice, a partner and eventually as a successful building contractor. With the construction of the road over the Flexen Pass (1895–97), he creates a new, year-round link to Lech, thus laying the foundations for the town’s development as a tourist destination.
Privatsammlung Familie Bertolini