Radio Sardegna was born in Bortigali in September 1943 during the years of World War II. Following the bombings that hit Cagliari in the early months of 1943, General Antonio Basso, at the time Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Sardinia, decided to move some 200,000 soldiers to the center of the island so as to provide them with greater protection. Sardinia was at that time home to the best equipped and most powerful radiomobile the Italian Army had at its disposal, the R6 1942 shortwave. This, after the Armistice of September 8, 1943, was transferred together with the specialized personnel to Bortigali, to an air raid shelter carved out of a cave in a trachyte bank.

At that time, with the Germans in retreat and the Americans not yet landed, Sardinia was the only Italian region that could call itself “free.” Thus was born Radio Sardegna, the first free radio station in Italy after twenty years of fascist dictatorship.

On October 2, 1943, Radio Sardegna officially began broadcasting with the following announcement, “Here Radio Sardegna, free voice of Italy loyal to its King.” The schedule consisted of various newscasts, some music programs and a format called “Messages to and from the Continent,” the purpose of which was to enable a connection between soldiers stranded in Sardinia and their families, taking advantage of the powerful instrumentation that allowed the signal to be propagated throughout the Peninsula to send a message of comfort and hope to those on the island who had loved ones, military or civilian, of whom they had no news

Then on May 7, 1945, the event happened for which the history of Radio Sardegna will be handed down to posterity. Corporal Quintino Ralli, a marconist assigned to intercepts, picks up a communication from an American radio station in Algiers, in which the other Allies are informed of the German surrender. It falls to then director Amerigo Gomez to make the historic announcement in a world premiere, preceding the famous Radio London, which will pick up the news only twenty minutes later.

This legendary place is now managed, safeguarded and promoted by the Municipality of Bortigali: it is possible to visit the refuge headquarters upon request. On some occasions, such as the  Spring in the heart of Sardinia, becomes the site of an exhibition, bearing witness to the historical memory and artistic-cultural heritage that on May 7, 1945 made this small town in the Marghine “the capital of the world.”