In the biography of Luigi Einaudi, Switzerland occupies a key place in relation to the period of exile that he spent there from 26 September 1943 to 10 December 1944, in one of the most tormented phases of Italian history.

But the Einaudian interest in the Swiss nation is more ancient and in a certain sense formative of its intellectual personality. Since his early studies he has been involved in the development of Swiss institutional life with regard to referendums, as an example of direct democracy that small states can afford.

Sismondi's work on the Italian Middle Ages, the lessons of Pellegrino Rossi and Guglielmo Ferrero on freedom, the economic tradition of Maffeo Trousers and Vilfredo Pareto, Léon Walras, William Röpke and William E. Rappard, as well as Maurice Battelli, the historical school of Jacob Burckhardt and Werner Kaegi, formed a dense fabric of Italian-Swiss cultural references in which Luigi Einaudi was fully immersed.