Paper regions: Sardegna

The exhibition “Regioni di Carta. Stories of Sardinia through books and objects of the University of Padua” represents the second edition of the series of exhibitions entitled “Regioni di carta”, curated by the Museo di Geografia and the Biblioteca di Geografia, Scienze Economiche ed Aziendali ed Emeroteca Ca’ Borin.

Curated by Chiara Gallanti, the Museum’s curator, this year the exhibition offers an exploration of Sardinia along the traces of the island scattered across the shelves of the libraries and in the halls of the museums of the University of Padua, with the aim of conveying the complexity and depth of an extraordinary territory: historical maps and atlases, travel guides, ethnography texts, physical geography, economics, archaeology, literature, cinema, and much more.

Alongside the books, the exhibition engages in dialogue with the material heritage of the museums of the University. Natural specimens — minerals, fossils and taxidermied birds — evoke the geology and biodiversity of the island; photographs from the excavations conducted by the University of Padua at Nora open a window onto archaeology; panels and images recall two assets preserved in other museums of the University: a sperm whale stranded on the coasts of Sardinia, preserved at the Museo di Veterinaria, and a turbine from the historic hydroelectric power plant on the Tirso river, housed in the new Galleria della Macchine of the Department of Industrial Engineering.

Lastly, it will be possible to relive the Sardinia of the 1960s through the photographs – many previously unpublished – of the geographer Eugenio Turri, who had a deep affection for the island and captured the image of a territory poised between tradition and change.

The exhibition can be visited until 27 September 2026 with the admission ticket to the Museo di Geografia.