Are Swiss Italians more like North Italians or their German-/French-speaking compatriots?

[BlackBeastofArgh]

Discuss.

Additionally, feel free to discuss whether, anthropologically and genetically speaking, Alemannic- and Bavarian-speaking Swiss people are more similar to Western Austrians and Southwestern Germans or to their non-Germanophone compatriots, and the same for French-speaking Swiss people with regard to Central-Eastern French people and to their non-Francophone compatriots.

[Oliver109]

Italians i think, even French Swiss i have heard are very similar to their German co nationals.

[Ouistreham]

The psychological relationship of Italian-Swiss citizens towards the larger culture they belong to (Italy) can compare with the rest of Switzerland — German-Switzerland is like a better, richer and more democratic piece of Germany, French-Switzerland is a better, richer and more democratic piece of France, etc.

There's a big difference though: French and German speaking Swiss cantons are close to each other, several big cantons are bilingual (Fribourg/Freiburg, Valais/Wallis, Berne/Bern, whilst Ticino (the Italian speaking canton) is geographically isolated from the rest of Switzerland, being connected only through a couple of tunnels and uneasy mountain passes. On the other hand Ticino is intermingled with Italian territory, there's even an Italian municipality on the middle of Ticino (Campione d'Italia).



Ticino is fully integrated into North Italy, much more than to anything Swiss. It's just the part of Lombardy with more money and more banks, the local and most convenient tax haven.