A Shell station near Nogaredo (2010).
On the roadside near Nogaredo in northern Italy, this small Shell station still glows in the mountain sun. It’s 2010 — the era when cars hum on diesel, when petrol prices make headlines, and when every highway bend seems to promise another stop for fuel and coffee.
Yet even then, the scene feels oddly quiet. A single pump, the yellow canopy already fading, no attendants in sight. The brand is there, but its energy seems to have drained away — like the end of a long drive.
Only a decade later, the world would begin to turn sharply toward electric mobility. Companies like Shell would find themselves in courtrooms rather than discussing expansion plans, accused of ignoring their responsibility for a warming planet. This lonely station, with its clean concrete and perfect Alpine backdrop, is now sold by Shell and does not advertise a brand anymore. The photograph seems to be a sign of change just before it begins.
It reminds us how fast certainty evaporates. The petrol age once seemed endless; now its architecture already belongs to the past — silent, sunlit, and waiting for whatever comes next.
