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Mad Italians will be able to walk and visit their relatives for the first time in nine weeks on Monday as Europe’s hardest hit country eases the world’s longest-running national coronavirus blockade.
Four million people, about 72 percent of them men, will return to their construction sites and factories as the economically and emotionally devastated country tries to return to work.
Restaurants that have managed to survive Italy’s most disastrous crisis in generations will reopen for takeout service.
But bars and even ice cream parlors will remain closed. The use of public transportation will be discouraged and everyone should wear masks in interior public spaces.
“We are feeling a mixture of joy and fear,” said Stefano Milano, 40, in Rome.
“There will be great happiness in being able to run again without worry, as my son will be allowed to invite his cousin to blow out his birthday candles and see our parents,” said the father of three children.
“But we are also concerned because they are old and my father-in-law has cancer, so he is at high risk.”
“Moment of responsibility”
Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus emerged in December, led the world with an unprecedented 76-day blockade on January 23.
Weeks later, Italy followed suit, becoming the first western democracy to shut down virtually everything in the face of a disease that has now officially killed 28,884, the most in Europe, and some fear thousands more.
Italians’ lives began to close around him as it became increasingly clear that the first batch of infections in the Milan provinces were out of control.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte began with the closure of a quarter of the population in the northern industrial heartland on March 8.
The sudden move scared many, fearful of being locked up along with the growing threat, to flee to the least affected regions further south.
The danger of the virus spreading with them and incapacitating the less developed health system in the south forced Conte to announce a national shutdown on March 9.
“Today is our moment of responsibility,” Conte told the nation. “We cannot let our guard down.”
The official death toll was 724.
More waves of restraint followed as hundreds began to die each day.
Almost everything except pharmacies and supermarkets closed in the Mediterranean country of 60 million on March 12.
Conte’s final dice roll consisted of closing all non-essential factories on March 22.
Italy’s highest toll, 969, was reported five days later.
“Concerned about reopening”
The economic cost of all those stops has been historic.
Italy’s economy, the third largest in the eurozone last year, is expected to shrink more than in any other year since the global depression of the 1930s.
Half of the workforce is receiving state support, and the same number told a top pollster that they were afraid of becoming unemployed.
And some of those without jobs already say they don’t completely trust Conte’s ability to safely navigate the nation.
“I am concerned about the reopening. The authorities seem very hesitant about how to proceed, ”Davide Napoleoni, 37, told AFP.
Conte’s popularity has increased along with that of most other world leaders fighting the pandemic thanks to a demonstration around the flag effect.
But a Demos poll conducted in late April found that some of Conte’s brilliance was fading.
Confidence in his government has dropped eight percentage points to 63 percent still strong since March.
Psychological toll
Italy’s phased reopening is complicated by a highly decentralized system that allows the country’s 20 regions to apply their own rules.
The Veneto of Venice and the southern regions of Calabria have been serving food and drink in bars and restaurants with outdoor tables since last week.
The area around Genoa is considering allowing small groups of people to navigate and reopen its beaches.
The neighboring Emilia-Romagna keeps them closed, even for those who live by the sea.
All this uncertainty seems to be weighing on the nation’s psyche.
A survey by the Piepoli Institute showed that 62 percent of Italians believe they will need psychological support to face the post-closure world.
“The night of the virus continues,” wrote sociologist Ilvo Diamanti in the daily La Repubblica.
“And you can barely see the light on the horizon. In any case, we are getting used to moving in the dark. “
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