Fragments of Sardinia

Critique sheet

‘Fragments of Sardinia – The Tempio-Palau ‘tratta’ in the Ruggero Photographic Archive’, by Tempio photographer and journalist Vittorio Ruggero.

The ‘Tempio-Palau’ is a segment of the Sassari-Palau railway line, itself part of the ‘ Trenino Verde’ railway, as Europe’s oldest railway network is now called, which has been connecting the island’s communities for more than 130 years. An impressive work of engineering, which the exhibition recounts as a reportage in the passage of years and history. The 59-kilometre-long route starts in Tempio Pausania, passes through Luras, Calangianus, the Lake of Liscia Sant’Antonio, until it reaches the north-eastern coast, Arzachena and Palau. The images document that railway itinerary that crosses Gallura, joining the mountains to the sea: a journey through time, into the hidden heart of the island, to discover villages and territories characterised by extraordinary, uncontaminated and little-known natural landscapes. Old decommissioned tracks, railway stations that preserve traces of the past, imposing engines corroded by rust and time, waiting rooms and workshops where time seems to be suspended, the gesture of a stationmaster, travellers and tourists, unusual views and angles filmed from the moving train mingle with fragments of everyday life.

The images on display are extracted from the impressive photographic archive made up of negatives, black and white and colour photos, slides, and paper material, collected and digitised by Ruggero in over 50 years of activity, precious testimonies dating from 1800 to the present day and representing the historical memory of the life of the Gallura communities, a heritage to be preserved and handed over to the future.

Biography

Vittorio Ruggero (Tempio Pausania, 1957) photographer and journalist, has created a rich archive over several decades, collecting around half a million photographs, reproductions, letterpress prints, negatives and slides depicting Sardinia. Ruggero discovered his passion for photography as a child, fascinated by photos from newspapers and magazines. As a teenager, he received his first camera, a plastic Comet, as a gift from his father, and from there he began to immortalise scenes of everyday life. After graduating, he began working with the newspaper La Nuova Sardegna, using a Rolleiflex, a professional camera, for his shots, with which he also began his countless collection of portraits. Even today, Ruggero still travels around Sardinia looking for and collecting photos (‘I have already visited more than 300 municipalities out of a total of 377, I hope to touch them all’) with the aim of making a collection representing the island’s memory available to everyone. In 2024, the Municipality of Tempio Pausania acquired part of the archive consisting of material representing the city and the territory from the 19th century to the present day.

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