Fleeing from a chaos that seemed to have a firm grip on their inside world as well as the outside world, the first settlers found in Monte Verità a universe of their own, an intact place in which they were free to explore themselves and the world according to an order based on philosophical influences and ideals at the crossroads of Eastern and Western cultures.

Therefore, the microcosm of Monte Verità fits into the macrocosm of a world history characterized by the rapid industrialization of the late nineteenth century and the two world wars, re-emerging today as an open book, in which the new promotion project intends to write many more pages yet to commemorate and pay respect to the centre's history.

According to history, in 1900 a group guided by the couple Henri Oedenkoven and Ida Hofmann arrived at Monte Verità from Germany, knowing that they would find fertile ground for setting up an individualistic vegetarian cooperative. At that time, the Locarno region was already renowned for being a favourable location for founding new ideas and lifestyles. This was mainly due to the fact that the anarchists Michail Bakunin and Errico Malatesta had spent time there and to the new philosophical movements such as theosophy and anthroposophy advocated by exponents such as Locarnese National Councillor Alfredo Pioda. Promoting a Reform of Life as an alternative to the model of life imposed by the technological and scientific progress of the time, the vegetarians conducted a self-sufficient life based on cultivating the land, taking regular physical exercise, performing the arts and practising heliotherapy.

Thus, Monte Verità became a place of research and experimentation, which has seen the dreams, wishes and ideals of many people come true in the past and will continue to do so for many years to come. The key figure behind the centre's development in that respect was Baron Von der Heydt, who possessed a great entrepreneurial spirit rich in artistic, political and philosophical culture.