“The Places and Words of Berlinguer”: an exhibition in Cagliari dedicated to the secretary of the PCI

There are figures that never fade away. They remain as deep roots in the memory of a country, Enrico Berlinguer is one of these: not only a politician, but a conscience, a long-term view, a moral horizon. And Cagliari welcomes him with an exhibition that becomes a journey through the places, words, history and relevance of his thought.

Among the luminous arches of the Passeggiata Coperta and the Galleria dello Sperone del Bastione Saint Remy – where, in January 1984, one of the last memorable rallies of the secretary of the PCI was held – “The places and words of Enrico Berlinguer” comes to life, an exhibition project that celebrates, questions, recalls and provokes the fortieth anniversary of his death and restores the calm but firm voice of a man who knew how to combine politics and ethics, public and private, commitment and moderation.

Bianca Berlinguer, present at the inauguration, gives back not only the profile of Enrico the politician, but also that of his father. "Everything that happens in Sardinia gives us great joy and great emotion - she said - because this was the land where dad was born, where he grew up, where he chose his political militancy, where he made his first clandestine membership card of the Italian Communist Party and because it is the land that he has always had in his heart".

His words thus tell of a sense of belonging that marked Berlinguer's entire biographical arc. "I believe my father's legacy is that of having believed, fought and dedicated his entire life to a collective project in which millions of people identified, men and women who believed in a profound change in this country. A project embodied in what, over the years, was the Italian Communist Party. He always said: "If you want peace, prepare for peace. If you prepare for war, you cannot achieve peace." For him, peace was the most precious good, because without that good nothing else exists."

There is also room for a tender and domestic memory. Bianca Berlinguer tells an episode linked precisely to Cagliari. "I came here for the first time when I was a child, but then I returned many times, I remember that once we went to sleep at her aunt Iole's house, perhaps because there was no room in the hotel. In the city there was the Luna Park and I went on the roller coaster for the first time. I remember these descents with my heart in my throat, but I was very reassured, of course like all children, by the presence of dad at my side".

Through period photographs, archive materials, voices, films and original documents, the exhibition is divided into five thematic sections that touch on the main points of Berlinguer's biography and thought: his private life, his political commitment, the Italian crises, his international outlook, his moral legacy . But it is also an emotional journey: there is the Berlinguer of the strikes and the squares, the one of silent interviews and thoughtful words, the Berlinguer who listens more than he speaks, who stops in front of workers' pickets, who treats young people with respect and not paternalism.

The mayor of Cagliari, Massimo Zedda, stressed that the exhibition is not only a tribute to the leader, but an opportunity to reread the entire twentieth century through his figure : "We are here, our history is here, the history of the battles for rights, for freedom, for emancipation, for peace. And in a difficult moment like the current one, Berlinguer's thought offers us keys to interpretation, answers, directions".

And it is no coincidence that a section of the exhibition is dedicated to the project “Enrico Berlinguer. Discovering the man and the thought”, created by students from thirteen Italian high schools: a bridge between generations, which makes clear how Berlinguer's thought can still speak to the future.

The exhibition – after the stops in Rome, Bologna and Sassari – now arrives in Cagliari thanks to the Enrico Berlinguer association, the Berlinguer Foundation, with the support of the Gramsci Foundation, Cespe, the Sardinia Foundation, the Cineteca Sarda and numerous institutional partners. And it is here, in Sardinia, that the narration also becomes personal, intimate, rooted. The land that gave him birth becomes the place where family memories and militancy, affections and ideals intertwine.

"It has a solid scientific structure," explains the president of the Berlinguer Foundation, Salvatore Cherchi, "and not a propagandistic one. It takes place, among other things, in a profoundly Berlinguerian place, on that Bastione that was the scene of a very popular rally in the city in January 1984."