The Righi Railway in Genoa

If you look for Swiss tracks in Genoa, you will quickly find them: it is located right in the city center Klainguti confectionery. It goes back to three brothers from Graubünden who came to the Ligurian port city at the beginning of the 19th century and opened their first pastry shop here in 1825.

Genoa is located at the foot of steep hills. The old one is also here Forte Castellaccio, from which the district takes its name. Ever since the two people from Obwalden, Franz Josef Bucher and Josef Durrer, built a railway line on one of the hills near the town in 1893, the area has been called Righi, just like the mountain in Central Switzerland, simply with an H.

Just like the Klainguti brothers, the two entrepreneurs and makers from Obwalden sought their fortune in Genoa. They acquired an interest in it as early as 1883 Hotel Mediterranee in neighboring Pegli. Later they bought it straight away. In 1890, the two applied for the construction of part of the tram in Genoa and were awarded the contract, but for the most difficult and hilly route, for which they even had to build tunnels. This almost ruined the Swiss.

Franz Josef Bucher and Josef Durrer had known each other since childhood, both came from Kerns near Sarnen and were even married. In 1864, farmer Bucher and carpenter Durrer founded a company: die Bucher & Durrer. With a keen sense of new business areas, a few years later they opened Switzerland’s first parquet factory in nearby Kägiswil (OW).

Their parquet was in high demand and local wood sources were quickly exhausted. Bucher & Durrer expanded into Eastern Europe and in 1881 purchased a sawmill in Transylvania, which was then part of the Danube Monarchy. In 1885, another parquet factory was opened in Bucharest, Romania.

Franz Josef Bucher was a daredevil, contemporaries even called him rude. The only word he knew in Italian was «subito» been. Bucher wanted to be noticed. At any price. His partner Josef Durrer, the craftsman, was the opposite: diplomatic, thoughtful and reserved. It is therefore no wonder that disagreements soon arose between the two, for example in a long-standing dispute with the canton of Obwalden over the water rights for their factory. In 1877 the disagreements led to a brief divorce, which was soon resolved. They tried to reach an agreement.

The money the two earned from the wood and parquet flowed into the emerging hotel industry. In 1870 they built their first hotel in Engelberg, the Sonnenberg, where they could demonstrate their beautiful floors to a wide audience. After just a year the house was sold for a profit. With the money they bought the Trittalp on Lake Lucerne.

The Lucerne CorporationThe former owner classified the land as agriculturally useless. But not Durrer and Bucher. The latter gave the alp a new name: Bürgenstock. This already happened in 1873 Grand Hotel Burgenstock opened and a cable car was built here in 1888. More hotels followed: 1883 Hotel de l’Europe in Lucerne, the hotel in 1893 Quirinal in Rome.

The second pillar of the company Bucher & Durrer became the mountain railway. The two would have liked to be involved in the construction of the Pilatus Railway, which opened in 1886. However, this was denied to them due to personal animosity. But they were successful on the other side on the Stanserhorn. There they built a railway to the top cheaply and quickly.

Needing to save money, the entrepreneurs looked for a cost-effective brake instead of the then common racks and pinions: Technician Durrer then developed a brake caliper that also convinced the concession authorities. On the steepest part of the mountain, a daring demonstration of effectiveness was staged for them – the director was, of course, Franz Josef Bucher. And of course this booker also claimed the invention of the brake caliper as his own, even though Josef Durrer had developed it. The latter remained discreetly in the background – probably so as not to endanger the fragile domestic peace.

Had it before Bucher & Durrer Other railways had already been built, such as the railway line between the railway station and the city center of Lugano in 1886. The inhabitants of Obwalden also managed to build a power station in Maroggia, near Lugano.

The tensions between the two entrepreneurs have not diminished over the years. They reached a high point when they were able to sell the tram lines in Genoa in 1892 and received one million francs for this. Franz Josef Bucher had the money paid out in thousands of bills and traveled home with it. There he had himself photographed with the money in the garden of his house in Kerns and thus became the first Obwalden millionaire. Some of it was actually owned by his partner Josef Durrer, but Bucher did not care about such details, even though his business partner demanded his share.

In 1895 the two entrepreneurs finally separated, but the company continued to exist under the same name and was led from then on by Franz Josef Bucher. The parquet factory remained with Durrer, the hotels went to Bucher. He built the luxurious example in Lucerne Hotel Palace and in distant Cairo that Hotel Semiramiswhich he has lifts from Schindlera power generator Sulzer and equipped with tableware and lingerie from Switzerland. He did not live to see the opening in 1907, Franz Josef Bucher died in 1906. Durrer remained loyal to his homeland and died in Sarnen in 1919.

Unlike the Klainguti brothers, who managed to gain a foothold in Genoa at the beginning of the 19th century – their pastry shop still exists – Bucher and Durrer were not emigrants. They were entrepreneurs who wanted to take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves. That’s probably how it was in Genoa: one deal led to another. Anyone who invested in hotels had to have a large range. And so the sphere of influence between the two of them expanded over the course of their lives, even though the hotel expansion was ultimately the sole responsibility of Franz Josef Bucher.