"In the morning, Klein walked briskly through the city. He passed in front of a hotel with a lovely garden: he went in and asked to be shown a few rooms, one of which he booked. Only when he was leaving did he turn to look for the name of the hotel and read Hotel Continental. Didn't he know that name from somewhere?"
It's 1919: Hermann Hesse is a guest at the Continental Parkhotel where he sets his first novel, Klein und Wagner, in Ticino (southernmost Switzerland).
Already in this first novel are several references to the places and landscapes of Ticino, which becomes a source of extraordinary inspiration for Hesse. Magically bewitched by these places, Hermann Hesse is transformed from curious observer into world ambassador of not just our land but also a universal culture of humanity.
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Photos and text: copyright Foundation Museum Hermann Hesse Montagnola