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so deteriorated that over 20 per cent of the population (the highest rate in the canton)
was seeking work in nearby countries or overseas.* While economic pressures had
prompted the majority of these departures, this is unlikely to have been the case for
Severino Guscetti, whose education had ensured a secure working life. His father,
Giovanni Antonio Guscetti, had held high aspirations for his son and, on the
completion of his school years, sent him to the University of Pavia in Italy to continue
his education. Arriving at what was one of the oldest universities in Europe in 1835
when he was nineteen years of age, Severino had suffered bouts of ill health before
moving on to Padova then to the University of Vienna. With his health improved he
had moved back to Pavia and in 1840 completed his medical doctorate. He had spent
some time in Paris before returning to Switzerland where, in 1842, at 26 years of age,
his interest tumed to politics. Elected to the parliament for the canton of Ticino in
1849, he was selected as a member of the National CouncU of the Swiss Confederation
and two years later became a member of the govemment of Ticino.*
As a politician, Severino held liberal principles and worked tirelessly to
promote the welfare of the state. Making rapid poUtical advancement, he became
Comptroller and Minister of Education at only 35 years of age, in the role effecting
several valuable reforms. Among the most important was his contribution to the
development of a compulsory education system. A high regard for institutionalised
leaming, as much as his socio-economic position, distanced Severino from the peasant
classes. So too did the considerable literary skill which allowed him to compile a
widely circulated history of Switzeriand and a treatise on grammar which was adopted
in the common schools. In 1844 Severino married Giuditta Marini, the daughter of
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