1,935 kilometers of border in a museum

Room 3

An impeccably shiny copper pot – the pride and joy of every upstanding Ticino housewife in times gone by. At the border post in Cantine di Gandria, the men usually had to fend for themselves: their meals included rye bread and minestra, a soup often prepared with boiled barley. They also ate pasta made of wholemeal flour and risotto.

The economy and society are developing rapidly, as is crime. Swiss Customs is constantly adapting its strategy and tactics for checks. Digital tools make mobile checks possible. The new “customs and border security specialist” job profile means staff can react quickly to changing situations.

The Cantine di Gandria border post was manned by border guards from 1856 to 1921. No electricity, no telephone and only reachable by boat – in 1921, the customs authorities decided to deploy only single border guards to sun-deprived Cantine di Gandria. The location was too bleak for families.

After the rooms became empty, space was created for collectors' items tracing the history of customs. In 1935, the Ticino border guard officer Angelo Gianola began to collect objects from customs and the border guard. A hodgepodge of uniforms, weapons, measuring instruments and smuggled goods formed the basis for the creation of the Customs Museum.