They are gears, wood, iron. But, if they could talk, the ancient printing machines would tell two centuries of history. This is why Mariano Deidda thinks about it. Sixty-seven years old, from Cagliari, typographer by profession and for love, he has put together the most beautiful and largest collection, perhaps, in Europe. From yesterday on display, at least for a month, in the parish of San Tarcisio in via Gallura, Baracca Manna area.

The Union and the "Marinoni"

"It all starts with friendship with the parish priest, Don Eugenio Cocco," says Deidda, as he cleans his cars, almost stroking them. «They needed money to fix the parish house, so I thought of an exhibition, to collect offers. Because I have a unique heritage ». In the garden of the parish the most precious machine dominates: «The“ Marinoni ”, the mother of the Sardinian Union: she printed the first essay copy of the newspaper. First, in 1850, it had arrived in Antonio Timon's printing house, who printed many Sardinian periodicals ».

The collection includes over 180 pieces, "but here in the oratory there is only the smell of ink," says Deidda. As if to say: it is only a taste, a small part. And he mentions a press in the middle of the room. “Many like that are reconstructions, but created with unique pieces. For example one built with the beams of the roof of the monastery of St. Ignatius; or another, with the beams of the roof of the house of Nicolò Canelles, who introduced printing to Sardinia, in 1566. The building where he lived is still in Castello, and I was able to touch that wood, so ancient that it had almost become coal! "

The brass characters

There are also the brass movable types that the Unione Sarda printed. And the drop caps, treated as small bas-reliefs, created by Andrea Valli, the same sculptor who decorated the facade of the Cagliari Town Hall, and which here decorate Antonio Scano's "The Book of Life", in a rare copy of 1850. And then mimeographs , and more.

Deidda has measured gestures, a low voice that is charged with emotion when describing his machines, he lives the stories of an era: "I can say that I have closed the era of Gutenberg, because with the arrival of digital everything is over . But I'm happy, because I can hold these machines in my hand, and each one works, so I print what I want: maybe the first page of the Unione Sarda ».

His encounter with the printing house was not immediately love at first sight: «I was looking for a job, and when I saw a workshop I went in, without even knowing what printing was. The boss was Mantega, who later also bought the old Union machines. He asked me what I knew how to do and I replied: nothing! But I can learn, ”Deidda recalls, and laughs like a kid. The first task? “He's scattered a lot of characters on the ground: if you put them in order in a week, he said, you're hired. It took me four days ». Since then, in 50 years, he has collected the unique pieces that were on hand. "This is my life. The best is when I go to schools. Kids can print, they learn by touching. Today there is no longer the passion for reading books, because we no longer know what a real book is ». The dream? "Open a great museum".

Giovanni Lorenzo Porrà

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