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This contribution is devoted to the way the communities of the common bailiwicks of the former Helvetic Confederation dealt with their members’ emigration under the Ancien Régime. These territories, under the domination of twelve of the thirteen Confederate cantons during the modern era (nowadays Italian Switzerland), represent a privileged frame for the study of the migratory phenomena and the issues of the absence. Benefiting from a certain autonomy with regard to the sovereign cantons, the communities enjoyed important competences allowing them to intervene in the management of their emigrants’ assets, as well as in their representation. The decisions taken by the vicinal assemblies attest to an active involvement in the guardianship of the emigrants’ houses, in particular by entrusting the agency over the latter’s assets to pre-eminent families. The delegation they received to represent emigrants provided these families with considerable authority, since they had the power to preserve patrimonies and rights threatened by absence. The interchangeability of community members thus ensured the fulfillment of mutual obligations and the maintenance of social ties in a context of increased mobility.