Ascona Online: An Annotated Guide to Its Cultural History
Ascona: A Cultural and Historical Web Directory
Selected online resources on Ascona, Monte Verità, its artists, writers, spiritual movements, and international cultural networks.
Ascona, on the shores of Lake Maggiore in Switzerland, has been an extraordinary meeting place for artists, anarchists, philosophers, dancers, writers, and spiritual seekers since the late nineteenth century.
This directory, prepared for Asconology, brings together English-language resources and selected multilingual websites documenting Ascona’s cultural history, its remarkable personalities, and its continuing intellectual and artistic legacy.
The collection is organized by subject, with particular attention to the connections between Ascona, European modernism, alternative communities, and the history of spirituality.
Art Ascona – Exploring Culture in Ascona
An independent cultural website exploring Ascona’s remarkable connections with international art, literature, cinema, dance and intellectual history. Through articles on figures such as Greta Garbo, Vaslav Nijinsky, H. G. Wells, Hans Richter and Max Weber, Art Ascona highlights lesser-known personalities and stories that contributed to the region’s extraordinary cultural heritage.
My Neighbours: Hidden Lives in the Heart of Ascona
Andrea Biasca-Caroni | Historical and Biographical Research | 2026
Read the article and explore the research
An exploration of Ascona’s extraordinary cultural and intellectual history through the lives of people connected to its historic houses and neighbourhoods.
Starting from the author’s own residence in Ascona, formerly home to the artist Luigi Pericle and, earlier, Nell Walden of the influential expressionist movement Der Sturm, the research uncovers a remarkable network of artists, writers, psychologists, spiritual seekers and political figures.
Among its most intriguing subjects are Mary Bancroft, Carl Gustav Jung, Allen and Clover Dulles, and the unexpected intersections between modern art, espionage, psychology and spirituality.
Combining biographical research, historical connections and personal discoveries, My Neighbours offers an unusual perspective on Ascona as a crossroads of twentieth-century European and international culture.
Available in Italian, with an English draft translation.
1. Monte Verità: Utopia, Life Reform and Alternative Communities
1. Monte Verità – History — The official historical account of Monte Verità, from the early reformers and vegetarian colony to its development as an international cultural centre.
2. Monte Verità – Historical Timeline — An extensive chronology documenting the anarchists, artists, dancers, intellectuals, and spiritual movements associated with Ascona.
3. Monte Verità: The Swiss Early Hippie Colony — An article from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, focusing on Ida Hofmann and the establishment of the utopian community.
4. ETH Zurich – History of Monte Verità — An institutional overview of the colony’s intellectual, artistic, and spiritual history, including psychoanalysis, modern dance, and the Eranos meetings.
5. Elisarion – Monte Verità — A detailed historical account of the colony, its founders, visitors, artistic experiments, and connections with the Elisarion.
6. The Energy of Monte Verità — An illustrated introduction to the hill, its utopian past, historic buildings, museums, and continuing cultural activities.
2. Museums, Art and Cultural Heritage
7. Museums Monte Verità — An introduction to the museum complex, including Casa Anatta, Casa Selma, Casa dei Russi, and the Elisarion Pavilion.
8. The Monte Verità Museum Complex — Information on Harald Szeemann’s landmark exhibition and the historical museum in Casa Anatta.
9. Municipality of Ascona – Monte Verità — The municipality’s presentation of Monte Verità as a centre of European cultural experimentation. Italian.
3. Artists, Intellectuals and Spiritual Movements
10. Asconology – People — A growing biographical directory of personalities associated with Ascona, including Marianne von Werefkin, Arthur Segal, Luigi Pericle, and other artists and intellectuals.
11. Anarchists, Reformers and Revolutionaries in Ascona — The Monte Verità historical guide documents the presence of Raphael Friedeberg, Erich Mühsam, Peter Kropotkin, Otto Gross, and other radical thinkers.
12. Eranos, Jung and the Encounter of East and West — A historical overview of the intellectual environment in which Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn established the Eranos meetings in 1933.
13. Rudolf von Laban and the Birth of Modern Dance — An account of the artistic experimentation at Monte Verità, including Rudolf von Laban, Mary Wigman, and the development of expressive dance.
14. Elisàr von Kupffer and the Elisarion — The relationship between the visionary artistic world of Elisàr von Kupffer and the wider cultural landscape of Monte Verità.
4. Further Research and Primary Sources
The following portals provide additional material for investigating Ascona’s history, although the links lead to general research collections rather than individual Ascona articles.
15. E-Periodica – Swiss Historical Journals — Digitized Swiss journals and periodicals, useful for researching Ascona’s cultural history.
16. e-manuscripta – Swiss Manuscripts and Archives — Digitized manuscripts, correspondence, and archival collections.
17. SIK-ISEA – Swiss Institute for Art Research — Art-historical research resources and documentation on Swiss artists.
18. Swiss National Library — National collections and research resources for Swiss cultural and literary history.
19. Radiotelevisione Svizzera – RSI — Broadcast archives and cultural programmes covering Ascona, Monte Verità, and regional history.
About this Directory
This selection emphasizes Ascona’s contribution to international cultural history rather than conventional tourism. It connects the history of Monte Verità with modern art, anarchism, the reform of life, experimental dance, spirituality, psychology, and the intellectual networks of the twentieth century.
The directory is intended as a starting point for researchers, historians, artists, students, and anyone interested in the cultural significance of Ascona.Editorial note: Entries 1–14 are based on identified subject-specific webpages. Entries 15–20 are broader institutional research portals. Some resources are multilingual or available primarily in Italian or German. The descriptions summarize the scope of each resource rather than independently verifying every historical claim it contains.
