Away for a few days and I find 5 pages to catch up with... Franca, that thing you watched with Gad Lerner: how, how can one found a "Silvio ci manchi" group? How can they miss him? From where? He is like prezzemolo, everywhere- but unlike prezzemolo he makes everything worse rather than better... One good thing about living in England is being a bit removed from Berlusca.
McC and MM: there are not that many Swiss writers but do you know Derborence by Ramuz? Even if you do not read it, it is worth visiting the real Derborence, it is, to this day, a place with a special feel to it, fantastic nature (it is a total reserve) and no mobile coverage whatsoever.
Many non-Swiss writers spent a long time writing in Switzerland, for example DH Lawrence I think wrote Women in Love in Zermatt (and Lady Chatterley in Spotorno, near where I am from, but this is a different line of thought), Katherine Mansfield wrote so much while she lived in Montana (Valais) that Persephone books has published "The Montana stories" (which personally I do not find great, but I think the problem is with me, or her, not Montana). Also Rilke spent a long time in Sierre (Valais)... And although this is stretching it a bit, The Magic Mountain is set in Davos...
And no, I do not work for the Swiss tourism office (though my family think sometimes I sound as if I did).
Now off to find MM's featured thread...