The history of the Spano family, counts of San Martino, unfolds in a rich sequence of ancient photographs, clothes and precious relics dating back to 1800. All this in the exhibition set up in Oristano at the Teatro di San Martino. It can be visited until August 18th, every day from 5pm to 9pm.
The project, promoted by the municipal department of culture and the Oristano Foundation, was curated by the archivist Ilaria Urgu. The exhibition is the result of the analysis of a photographic fund of 310 vintage images. The clothes, coming from the collection of Mara Passino and Maria Luisa Marongiu and the documents belonging to the Spano family, enrich the itinerary. The collaboration of Paolo Manni, descendant of the Spano family, was fundamental for the reconstruction of this piece of Oristano history. The material was made available by the Manni family, Maria Luisa Marongiu and Fabio and Andrea Salaris.
«The material collected – explains Ilaria Urgu – describes a chronological span from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century with some images of Countess Maria Laura Sanna and qualifies as a precious research tool for the knowledge of nineteenth-century Oristano and the history of his nobility. The story we tell is that of the Spano family, of the branch of Paolo and Giuseppa Valentino, married in 1823. Although they had numerous children, they would have only one descendant: Eugenio Sanna who was mayor of Oristano. Among the papers we found a portrait of Giuseppe Mazzini dying. There are also images of Cavour, Garibaldi, Francesco Nullo, Giovanni Nicotera and Isnardo Guarco in Garibaldi's uniform. The material is the mirror of a city open to new ideologies. A living city that did not remain silent."