Museo Ferroviario Sardo
Last week following the latest emergency decree, the Italian government modified restrictions and reopened museums in Yellow Zones (on weekdays only). Cultural and archeological sites have been closed to the public since we arrived here 3 months ago, so we feel fortunate to be in an area classified as low-risk.
With that in mind we wasted no time getting in touch with a little museum that the children have been hoping to visit for months; the Sardinian Railway Museum (Il Museo Ferroviario Sardo). The permanent exhibition sits in an annexed building of the island’s main railway station, less than 1km away from our marina. And since it is run solely by volunteers, we were able to get in touch with them and arrange a private tour.
We were met by our lovely guides Marino and Antonio, who were only too happy to breathe a bit of life back into their little museum after all this time. They enthusiastically spent the morning with us, sharing their knowledge and passion for the industry, and asking for nothing in return. (Though of course we plied them with local biscuits and treats, and plenty of gratitude to boot.)
The railway history of Sardinia is most interesting. The museum itself opened nearly 40 years ago and is full of artefacts that have been lovingly rescued from the scrapheap of time. Each item has been conserved as a reminder of every historical stage of the railways on the island, and thereby of Sardinia herself. Nearly 150 years worth of superseded technology sits alongside industrial relics; in their prime considered a marvel of innovation and Italian design, today relegated to the shelves of curiosity. But this is no dusty side-room.
One such artefact is the royal carriage furniture that survived a train bombing during the war and now sits in pride of place at the entrance of the museum. The blue velvet bench banquet rests slightly higher than the accompanying seats, so as to elevate the diminutive king at the time above his subjects.
A wooden carved figurehead still houses an Italian flag hidden in a secret compartment, placed there in an act of defiance upon German invasion. Heavy iron safes built to house keys, money and important documents still hold their contents, the keys lost long ago. One such safebox requires the user to poke an adorning nymph up the bottom with a sharp stick before the keyhole reveals itself hidden behind a secret panel. It even came with lengthy instructions on how to do so!
A Welsh engineer, Benjamin Piercy, played a large part in the development of the island’s railways, and indeed had economic interests all over the world. According to legend, the railway yard and surrounding town of Chilivani (an important stop along the railroad) is said to be named after his lover; a Parsi princess called Kiliwani, whom the engineer met during a visit to India. Piercy’s sprawling villa estate still sits on the island amongst an English garden and is now a popular tourist destination.
But best of all was how ecstatic the children were to visit this hall of wonder, not least of all the large steam locomotive that sits proudly within the atrium of Cagliari station. Taking them out of school for the day to play with morse code machines, level crossing signals and model railways of unique value was a day very well spent indeed.
