Among the Italian exiles who reached the Canton of Ticino following the repressive actions of the Di Rudini and Pelloux governments in 1898 were Enrico Bignami, Giuseppe Rensi, and Arcangelo Ghisleri. They founded in Lugano "Coenobium," the "international journal of free studies," which existed from 1906 to 1919.

The birth of this periodical coincided with the crisis of positivism at the end of the 19th century, the emerging modernism, and a socialist ideal inspired by Mazzini. Published mainly in Italian and partially in French, "Coenobium" stood out for the diversity of themes it addressed: from science to law, from history to philosophy, from literature to spiritualism, from pedagogy to psychology.

However, with the outbreak of the First World War, there was a shift in the editorial line of the journal, then directed by Bignami, who decided to make it an influential instrument of pacifist propaganda through the section "War on War!"

The periodical then mobilized a series of leading figures from the international cultural and political world. It thus published contributions from William Jennings Bryan, Henri La Fontaine, Heinrich Lammasch, Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani, Giuseppe Motta, Karl Liebknecht, Charles Richet, Romain Rolland, Claudio Treves, and Filippo Turati. Their texts are included in the anthology, which constitutes an important part of this book.