Cosa Tutto C’é

The borders of Sardinia meet at the Mediterranean ports of the Continent.
The island does not begin on its sandy shores, but further on, on the opposite coasts of the sea from which it emerges. Its territory is also the water in between and everything that passes through it. The ferries that leave every day for the island bring more than 4 million tourists every summer, a number that is growing on a yearly basis.
4 million people, traveling on about 1 million cars, all of which converge onto the same roads, transporting campers, bicycles, boats, motorcycles, caravans and suitcases to the same beaches and to the same holiday sites.
The ship is a temporary community that unites many different people headed to a single destination, and gives a cross-section of the population that cyclically migrates to Sardinia from all over Europe to temporarily rebuild a piece of their domesticity in a more exotic elsewhere in the world.
And the ships not only transport people, but also vehicles, equipment, objects, personal goods, animals, and upon returning to the continent they take back tons of sand, shells, rocks (in Cagliari during 2015 the authorities managed to seize 5 tons of sand stolen).
The ship, a giant that moves territories, temporarily but also irreversibly, an icon but also a visible and tangible gauge of the transformations of the island's territory.

text by Francesca Gotti. exhibited at Castello San Terenzo, Lerici (IT) in 2022.

In Sardinia, as of May 31, 2022, 1573089 people are resident, spread over a total area of 24100 km²; the 'normal' population density is 65 inhabitants per km². In the month of July 2022 alone, over 1.3 million passengers landed in the ports and airports of the island. In July, according to data provided by the Port System Authority of the Sardinian Sea, the naval ports recorded a total of over 607000 arrivals, an increase of 14% compared to 2021 and 6.92% compared to 2019, a number that stands as the best of the season. Among the most significant numbers we find that recorded by the port of Olbia and Porto Torres, respectively with over 370000 and 143000 passengers disembarked. From 1 to 20 August 2022, according to data provided by the Port System Authority of the Sardinian Sea, 472072 arrivals were recorded in Sardinian ports, (Olbia 292312; Porto Torres 104069; Golfo Aranci 62636; Cagliari 13,055). Between ports and airports, in the first twenty days of August 2022, almost one million passengers landed on the island. The ferry companies that connect Sardinia to the rest of Italy are Moby, Tirrenia, Sardinia Ferries, GNV and Grimaldi Lines. The times of the crossing vary a lot, from 5 to 10 hours, depending on the route and whether you choose to travel with traditional ferries or fast ships. The main ports in Sardinia are Olbia, Porto Torres, Golfo Aranci, Cagliari and Arbatax while the ports of departure from Italy are, from north to south, Savona, Genoa, Livorno, Piombino, Civitavecchia, Naples and Palermo. Moby Fantasy, the largest and greenest ferry in the world: the new “Moby Fantasy” motor ship was launched at the Chinese Gsi shipyard in Guangzhou, which will come into operation in 2023 on the Livorno-Olbia line. The ship is a good 237 meters long by a width of 32 and a tonnage of 69500 tons. It will be able to carry up to 2500 passengers per crossing, thanks to 550 cabins, and will be able to carry up to 1300 cars or 300 trucks. Tirrenia Sharden is 214 long, 26 wide, with 39798 tonnes. It is capable of carrying 2908 passengers and 850 cars. The GNV Spirit measures 203.90 meters long and 25 meters wide, has a capacity of 1608 passengers and has a garage of 1926 linear meters that can hold 1000 vehicles spread over four levels and 110 trailers. The Compagnia Italiana di Navigazione (CIN) in the four-year period 2016-2019 made 4761 connections between the peninsula and Sardinia, during which it transported 2.2 million people, 681000 cars, and 2.8 million linear meters of goods. The goods loaded and unloaded only in Cagliari in 2020 (in thousands of tons) include: 800 of agricultural and food products, for hunting, fishing, drinks, tobacco; 820 of petroleum products and hard coal; 2200 minerals, metals, building materials; 620 chemical products, rubber and plastics; 713 textile and clothing industry products; 194 equipment and machinery; 2520 secondary raw materials and waste; 2800 various cargo in container.