From California to Ticino: what a journey to my ancestors’ Swiss villages revealed

Last summer, Nicole Holst visited the small villages in southern Switzerland where all of her great-great-grandparents were born before emigrating to the United States in the 19th century. Her trip helped her to make sense of her character and dreams. Nicole, born and raised in California, always knew her ancestors had emigrated from Switzerland. As a child she used to visit the Negranti Ranch, in Cambria, Central Coast, California, where her great-grandmother Mary Clementine Negranti (née Bassi) lived. The area was popular among immigrants from the southern Swiss canton of Ticino. The map of both the Californian Central Coast and Valley still shows ranches, vineyards, wineries and roads bearing Ticino family names. “She'd have a birthday party and that was always really intriguing because it's a big family – she was one of 11 children,” Nicole recalls. “Me and my cousins would get into a lot of trouble, chasing bulls and getting poison ivy, and we'd have these big family barbecues ...