L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 10 THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020 L'Italo-Americano THE CENTRE — Just a b o v e 2 0 . 0 0 0 c a s e s , t h e vast majority in Tuscany. I n F l o r e n c e , w h e r e F a b r i z i o l i v e s , t h e c i t y rests, magnificent, without tourists. There is time to tidy up around. "This impo- s e d q u a r a n t i n e h a s b e e n f r u i t f u l : m y a t t i c , w h i c h have been filling up with useless, random things, has b e e n f i n a l l y c l e a r e d , a s I have more spare time. With the rhythms my life had just a few weeks ago, I would have never been able to do it: it's been tiring, but I am h a p p y a n d s a t i s f i e d n o w . I ' v e a l s o b e e n e n j o y i n g those word puzzles maga- zines I usually take up only d u r i n g t h e s u m m e r h o l i - days. Crosswords and puz- z l e s k e e p m y m i n d a w a y from all the alarming news we receive on a daily basis. I t ' s a p i t y a b o u t a l l t h e events and congresses post- poned; luckily, our wines' presentations were finished s h o r t l y b e f o r e t h e l o c k - d o w n . I d o e n j o y a g o o d glass of wine at home and I allow myself, every now and t h e n , t h e p l e a s u r e o f a Toscano cigar. Sometimes, I take a walk along the silent, narrow streets leading to Piazzale Michelangelo, just above my home. Here it is, q u i e t b u t i m p o r t a n t , t h e comfort of beauty." L i l l y t e l l s u s a b o u t Cortona, a Medieval villa- g e n e a r t h e b o r d e r w i t h U m b r i a . " O u r l i v e s h a v e been turned upside down by this emergency. We have to stay at home and we can go out only for real necessities, l i k e f o o d s h o p p i n g a n d going to the pharmacy. The police and the Carabinieri are always checking, heavy fines are given to all those transgressing and, in the most serious cases, official c o m p l a i n t s a r e l o d g e d . Everything is closed, except f o r f o o d s t o r e s , t o b a c - c o n i s t s , p h a r m a c i e s a n d h a r d w a r e s t o r e s , b u t because we all have to wear a mask and entry is allowed only one by one, there are always long queues outside. Covid hospitals are off lim- i t s f o r u s a l l , w i t h v i s i t s being fully suspended. In t h e o t h e r s , a d m i s s i o n i s strictly sifted through GPs, the emergency medical ser- v i c e a n d 1 1 8 ( t h e I t a l i a n 911). Everything is abnor- mal. Contact with friends and family is non existent, unless you use your phone or computer. Citizens can go outside, alone, within 200 meters of their own home, to walk the dog. It's a horri- b l e m o m e n t a n d f e a r spreads just like the virus, but there is a lot of solidari- ty, too. Cortonesi have been very active and donate all t h e y c a n t o t h e S a n t a Margherita Hospital and to all those who have issues paying their bills or buying f o o d a n d m e d i c i n e s . T V h e l p s , a s i t o f f e r s s o m e e n t e r t a i n m e n t t o s p e n d time while we are locked at home. We all support Italy and here in Cortona, every e v e n i n g o u r P a l a z z o Comunale lights up with the colors of our flag, which you can see also out of many, many windows." T H E S O U T H — C a m p a n i a ( 4 . 0 0 0 c a s e s ) and Puglia (3.000 cases) are the most hit regions, b u t l u c k i l y n u m b e r s a r e l o w e r a n d t h e s i t u a t i o n more manageable. Leonardo is a doctor in Catanzaro. He works in the local hospital and his experience is shaped by his p a t i e n t s ' s t a t e o f m i n d , which is made of "well foun- ded hope and bewildering fear." Here's what he says once he takes the white coat off: "You leave home and look around, in the more or less impossible hope to find s o m e o n e t o t a l k t o . Y o u repeat yourself the day must b e f i l l e d w i t h d u t i e s , because you don't want to g e t l a z y , n o r t h i n k t o o much. You tidy up around, while thinking about what you can do inside and can't do outside. You try conti- nuously to plan, organize, make, just to give a meaning to your day. TV is always on the background, with news more and more dramatic. A f t e r t h e f i r s t d a y s , i n F e b r u a r y , w h e n w e w e r e scared and disoriented, we now listen to the news about coronavirus with a dreadful sense of normality. It's peo- p l e t h a t t h e v i r u s t u r n e d into numbers, their names became patient 1, patient 2 and so on, and now we're over 100.000. Dignity and t h e s a c r e d v a l u e o f l i f e turned into statistics, per- centage points, bulletins. Everything seems strange and surreal, but it isn't. We have to accept that the value o f n u m b e r s h a v e b e c o m e m o r e i m p o r t a n t t h a n t h e v a l u e o f e a c h s i n g l e l i f e . E v e r y a f t e r n o o n , w e a r e p o w e r l e s s w i t n e s s e s t o increasing hospitalizations a n d c o n t i n u o u s d e a t h r e p o r t s , d u r i n g a s p r i n g that, in our mind filled with f e a r , i s m o r e l i k e a c o l d , dark winter. T h i s y e a r , h o p e c a n ' t reassure us, in a world we illusorily believe to control. S o m e t h i n g w e n t g r o s s l y wrong and, without a doubt, t h e r e i s s o m e t h i n g w a y more important, just like our life, we no longer man- age to appreciate and value as we should. In the silence that embraces our cities and villages, we are now more likely to think about what we've done. All we can do now, is try to fix it. Fix it to s u r v i v e a n d , a f t e r t h a t maybe, to start living better. Will we be ok? Yes, we will, but now we have to work h a r d a n d w a i t a n d s e e whether spring can make it into our hearts." Florence, as marvelous as ever, in spite of the virus (Photo: Dreamstime) Badolato, in the province of Catanzaro, Calabria. The region has been hit by the coronavirus emergency, just like the rest of the South, but not as tragically as Italy's northern regions (Photo: Dreamstime) Lilly, our collaborator from Cortona (above) tells us about the difficulties of lockdown and how they are impacting her community (Photo: Dreamstime) Continued from pg 8

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