L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano T h e w o r l d h a s been fighting the s a m e e n e m y . Reality is, there i s n o t s u c h a thing as escaping the virus, but in Italy we've finally rea- c h e d a m o m e n t w h e n i t ' s important to start looking forward and try to reach some semblance of norma- lity again, without forgetting, of course, that we're still very much at war against an insidious, invisible and deadly evil. Life needs to go on: with surgical masks, controlled access to stores and social distancing, but it needs to g o o n . A n d s o , I t a l y h a s begun adapting its existence and its routines to an enti- rely new reality, one that appears all the more foreign to a country were socializing, conviviality and very physi- cal, very factual displays of affection are as natural as breathing. It's not only people who need to discover new ways to thrive while being forced to cohabit with the virus, but businesses, too. All sectors of our economy have been hit h a r s h l y , b u t t o u r i s m remains the most notorious victim of Covid-19 in Italy: profits dropped by 95% in March and it is believed a t o t a l o f 2 0 b i l l i o n e u r o (almost 22 billion USD) will be lost by the end of 2020. This is not at all surprising, as the first half of the year saw virtually no traveling t a k i n g p l a c e a n d e v e n i f restrictions should soon — or so we all hope — allow us to move a bit more freely, 2020 will remains an annus terri- bilis for Italian tourism, a sector that Il Sole 24 Ore, just last January, had defi- ned " Italy's own oil." It's not all negative, thou- gh. Or, let's put it this way: we should try not to see all n e g a t i v e l y . I f o n e t h i n g remained clear through the emergency is that people all over the world love Italy, they truly do, and that many c a n ' t w a i t t o c o m e b a c k . Some may have family ties, o t h e r s j u s t i n c r e d i b l e memories, others still would simply love to see it for the first time: whichever way you put it, Italy remains in the heart and dreams of the world. This is great news for our tourism, of course, but fear is great and relying only on Italophiles' desire to come back may not be enough to get the industry going again. T h i s i s w h y S i c i l y ' s R e g i o n a l G o v e r n m e n t h a s d e c i d e d t o s u b s i d i z e holidays to all those who'll choose the island as their destination. The news, The G u a r d i a n r e p o r t e d l a s t week, came a few days befo- re the Government announ- c e d i t h o p e s t o o p e n t h e country's borders to tourists for the summer. Regione Sicilia decided to invest a total of 75 million euro (about 82 million USD) to boost its tourist sector, after the immense losses it experienced in the first quar- ter of 2020. It was Manlio Messina, Sicily's tourism director, to disclose details about the plan — which has still to come officially into being — on national televi- s i o n ; h e d e c l a r e d t h a t accommodation costs should be in part reduced by offe- r i n g o n e f r e e n i g h t f o r a three-day trip (your typical weekend getaway) and two free nights if you decide to stay six days. Vouchers and discounts for cultural and heritage visits or activities are also part of the plan. Messina declared the region is also taking into considera- tion the possibility to pay for up to half the cost of fli- ghts, although this hasn't been confirmed, yet. Sicily remains on of the least affected region by the C o v i d - 1 9 e p i d e m i c , w i t h only 2.127 active cases as of t h e 8 t h o f M a y , a r e s u l t obtained also thanks to the timely closure of regional b o r d e r s i m p o s e d b y G o v e r n o r M u s u m e c i shortly after the beginning of the epidemic. Regardless to what the plan will effectively imply, Regione Sicilia needs to wait, just like the rest of the coun- t r y , a n d u n d e r s t a n d t o which extent restrictions will affect people's freedom to travel during the summer; recently, Italy's Minister for Tourism and Culture, Dario Franceschini, weighed in on possibilities in an inter- v i e w w i t h R o m e ' s I l M e s s a g g e r o n e w s p a p e r : "I've never said nor thought of closing Italian borders to tourists for 2020 — he decla- red when commenting on some fake news that did the rounds in Europe two weeks ago — on the contrary, I've been working with the rest of the EU's ministers for touri- sm to create a set of homoge- neous security regulations to allow freedom of movement for all EU citizens." Still no mention of non-EU visitors, but there is hope. A positive outlook, a grea- tly needed attempt to return to normality soon, for the economy of course, but also for people's own psychologi- cal well being. It is essential, though, to remain realistic and, of course, careful, as pointed out by Franceschini himself, and reported again by The Guardian: "You have to adopt the right balance between safeguarding health and restarting economic and social life. It must be done with the utmost care. We're moving one step at a time." One step at a time. This is the only way we can move f o r w a r d r i g h t n o w , b u t knowing that today these steps can be taken seems already like a little victory. FRANCESCA BEZZONE LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE The beauty of Sicily for half the price? It may happen this summer The Valley of the Temples, in the Agrigento province of Sicily. We may be able to visit for cheap this summer, if things go as planned by Regione Sicilia (Photo: Dreamstime)

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