Monte Verità, a laboratory of visions and avant-gardes established in 1900, assumed a significant role in the events that shaped relations between Italy and Switzerland during the years of 1943 and 1944. The Monte Verità complex had been purchased by Baron Eduard von der Heydt on the eve of the 1930s. This German banker, belonging to a family of patrons, had a controversial figure for his involvement in the events of World War II, particularly regarding relations with the Jewish population and the Nazi regime.
Before the outbreak of World War II, after promoting and fostering the cultural and artistic life of the Mount, the Baron abandoned his mansion on the hill, Casa Anatta, and moved to the lake. It was during this period that he supported Jewish refugees in Switzerland and maintained contacts with diplomatic representatives of Western powers, presenting himself as an opponent of the Nazi regime.
During the Baron's absence, Casa Anatta housed Mario Pontremoli and his family. This house, along with another building on the Baron's property, became "Posto Comando 24," where the passage of civilians and partisans from the Locarnese region to Val Cannobina and Ossola was coordinated. Mario Pontremoli was a symbolic figure of antifascism: a multi-decorated officer during the Great War, he was forced to leave Italy because of racial laws. Settling in Monte Verità, he organized a network of military assistance to the Ossola partisan formations, particularly the "Cesare Battisti." This same logistical network was also used to smuggle goods across the border.
Therefore, in addition to being a place of spiritual and artistic research, Monte Verità also became an important coordination center for anti-fascist activities and support for Jewish refugees during a crucial period in European history. Its influence and role during the war years helped shape the history of the region and established a significant link between Italy and Switzerland in a context of political and humanitarian complexity.
The testimony of Mario Manzoni, who was a partisan then, is especially significant:
I reach Ascona, and a lady points me to the road to Monte Verità, where I find the Pontremoli villa. It is already dark; behind the gate there's a boy that's about ten years old and he asks me, very earnestly, who I'm looking for. After I ask him to call Mr. Pontremoli, he tells me that his name is also Pontremoli, but that if I'm not more specific about what I want, he won't let me in. When I explain to him that I'm in a hurry and that I'm from the "Battisti," he slips a tricolor ribbon out of his pocket and puts it under my nose. The inscription on the ribbon reads "Brigata C. Battisti" and, after showing me, he adds "If that's what it is about, I'm also from the "Battisti". Come on in", and opens the little gate. He ushers me into a living room where, a short time later, I am joined by Engineer Pontremoli [...] then they have me dine with another young man waiting to reach Italy clandestinely.
Today Casa Anatta is a museum and houses the permanent exhibition Monte Verità - The Breasts of Truth curated by Harald Szeemann.