Acknowledgements

“Chi avrà il coraggio di perdersi... la via troverà…” Sulutumana, Anam Ji, 2005

Designing means giving ideas wings, yet finding the right wings to fly is not easy... When wings and ideas match, they should be remembered, for the future as well as the present, because only when you know where you come from do you understand where you want to land.

Before expressing all other forms of thanks, with enormous pleasure, our most sincere and heartfelt gratitude must go first to two colleagues, Alessandra Spiniello and Zala Vrbek, whose expertise and dedication allowed this whole project to reach its current dimensions... and to everyone at the Space S.p.A. company, not only for the above reasons, but also for their endless willingness to interpret our often inscrutable and imperceptible trajectories...
so...

First, a sincere thank you for the generous involvement of the Museo delle Industrie e del Lavoro Saronnese, in the person of its President, Arnaldo Siena, and his trusted assistants, Carmine Imonti and Claudio Galli, for their helpfulness and patience, especially in the very early stages of the project. Over time, all of them had an important place in the life of Ferrovienord, even before they became involved in the railway work of the MILS, which was essential to enable us to imagine embarking on this initiative.

Thanks also to the Ferrovie recreational club and its President, Luciano Ghitti, its secretary, Fabio Monfrecola, and the true-blooded railway man Carlo Partenzi, who never thought for a moment that the project would not get off the ground and gave us access to their library and other resources…

Usually humans have no wings, but there some “exceptional flyers” who share a common destination and are capable to fly...

So sincere thanks to Edgardo Tavazza and Carlo Bonari, without whom it would not have been possible to restore the appeal of steam and traction to all the railway vehicles represented and exhibited here.

Together with them, we are grateful to Carlo Pirotta and Giuseppe Gerosa, the luckily for us selfless owners of many of the photographs we used.

“Bisognerebbe fermarsi in tempo Non aver fretta ma rallentare, Bisognerebbe solo ascoltare o ancora meglio, cambiare canale, c'è bisogno di stare attenti Nell'osservare la nostra storia, Guardarsi indietro e poi capire… Che c'è bisogno di più memoria, Si c'è bisogno... di più memoria” Rumblers Blues, Modena City Ramblers, 2003

We flew backwards and forwards in the times of memory, and much of the railway that was rediscovered and a huge number of curiosities are the result of the passion of Alessandro Brambilla, who contributed to many of the most important images on display here…
And with him Claudio Cozzi, for his constant kindness…

Thanks too for their significant contributions to Paolo Mazzetti, Giacomino Savoldi, Mauro Sirio, Massimo Dones, Claudio Faustini and Denis Balestrini among our colleagues, and Lucio Bortolato among the enthusiasts, because wings need feathers, huge numbers of them and closely packed so that you can fly, with your heart above all... The feathers are the images (and the time) made available, the real protagonists of this journey... Of course, feathers can always grow because in the end that is what we need, a structure so we can dream... wings so we can fly.

Flying requires energy and trust, huge thanks to Gualtiero Della Monaca, Carlo Lattuada, Mario Pennacchio, Paolo Ladavas and Alvaro Ferlenghi, Alberto Ripamonti, Salvo Bordonaro, who made their work available, and for the magazines published by Duegi Editrice for Tutto treno e storia and by I treni, who allowed us to publish articles that, though dated, helped broaden the scope of historical knowledge of the Railways, and to Mondo Ferroviario and Ingegneria Ferroviaria, from which we drew out of necessity...

The journey took longer than expected and here thanks are due to Enrico Bellavita, who unhesitatingly wanted and allowed everyone to land on shores that are substantially better than those we initially thought of.

A special thank you to our route-finder Alessandra Giordano at the Cesare Pozzo Library in Milan, an irreplaceable point of reference when we lost our way, and to Paolo Mantegazza, in his dual role of feature writer and designer... and last but not least to the Movimento e Telegrafo Association, which made sure the final landing was a little bit softer…

Special mention must be made of the voices of the Compagnia dei Gelosi, a highly regarded award-winning literary association, who have given substance to the museum-like silence of the rooms and created a gentle audio background, from the whistle of an engine here and a train braking in a station there.

Finally, there is the nourishment, or energy, that provide the necessary sustenance to ensure that a flight can truly be said to have been completed. Therefore, in their various capacities and in strict alphabetical order, sincere thanks for their patience and commitment in this year of passion to...

Agostini Piero, Berrera Matteo, Bionda Gianluca, Della Canonica Guido, Di Gilio Alessandro, Passoni Valeria, Pini Marco and Viganò Chiara and everyone who had time to give us some significant moments of their work.

Lastly, a particular thank you to the staff of the Braidense Library, the CARLO NEGRONI Civic Library, the Libraries of Provaglio d’Iseo and Paderno Franciacorta and the Municipality of Orzinuovi for their help and support with the research work, and to the ISEC Foundation in Sesto San Giovanni.

We must also mention Wikipedia, Google Earth and YouTube, which were so important for the collection of interesting facts and detailed images to present the highly complex and multiform world and territory in which the ever-changing railway infrastructure is located… This necessarily generic acknowledgement is extended to all the institutional websites we consulted and from which we drew suggestions, among which we have to cite www.Altabrianza.org, for its in-depth content, which is particularly close to the history of the world of Ferrovie Nord Milano…

“Difficile non è partire contro il vento.. ma casomai senza un saluto” Lindbergh, Ivano Fossati, 1992

There are bound to be errors, but we invite you to find them and help us correct them, especially so the flight can continue... but it would be better to call it by its name, the journey... less alone but with more enthusiasts who can be counted on so that together we can remember in the future.

Lampo (Sogno di un Macchinista Ferroviere, Ivano Fossati)

Passa l'acqua di uno stagno
veloce di fretta va via
la piazza del borgo
il ponte
il vicolo di fronte
la trattoria che conosco
passano la febbre
la sete
col tempo l'amore
la gelosia
vedo sorgere più stelle che scintille
sopra la mia vita.

Passa tempo passa ruota
sull'acciaio passa
come notte passa giorno
sull'acciaio lucido.

Buca la montagna questo muso cieco
e sbuca là di fronte
dove aspettano i bagnanti alla sbarra
sul mare che scintilla brilla
passa il campanile di Sant'Anna
Ah-ccidenti come vola
come viaggia all'indietro
come corre via.

Passo anche gli uomini
e il fragore delle automobili.

Taglio l'autostrada come burro contromano
eh come non visibile
passo sopra e passo sotto
sull'acciaio lucido.

Alberi da frutta su due file
da quando ho lasciato Rimini
da quando ho smarrito Genova
proprio non so.

Arriverò ai ghiacciai un giorno
anzi una notte
senza corrente elettrica
a fari spenti arriverò
con coraggio
e poi di nuovo giù
dall'altro pendio del mondo
vedrai che arrivo che farò
turbine e scintille accese
vedrai che arrivo che farò
e come puntuale di ritorno
accanto a te sarò.

Passa tempo passa ruota
sull'acciaio passa
come notte passa giorno
sull'acciaio lucido.

Come si somigliano
i paesi all'imbrunire
tutti i segnali accesi
tutti i segnali accesi
come si somigliano
i paesi all'imbrunire.

Giovanni Cappellari and Edoardo Adamuccio