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It’s Monday night, I’m in a cab heading home from Linate. I select some photos that I just took at the airport, order them on Instagram and write the following caption: “Recently, during my travels between London and Milan, I enjoy listening to the British complain about the Italian bureaucracy. All those forms to fill out! So what are they for? Tonight in Linate there is a new protocol: the United Kingdom has been added to the list of countries whose travelers, arriving in Italy, must undergo a Covid-19 swab before they can continue. Twenty minute wait, a quick swab in each nostril, get ready! – and then they send you the result. If it is positive, it must remain isolated. But how inefficient are these Italians, right? Test, track and monitor – fast, no hassle. However, curiously, there were some Brits who complained about having to take the exam. Instead, know that if you can’t get swabs in England, or if the closest monitoring center is several hundred kilometers away, as many Brits have unfortunately discovered, I suggest you take a cheap flight in the morning. for any Italian airport (because in Italy you eat well everywhere!), get the free trial at the expense of the Italian government, then visit the city for a good lunch and then get back on the plane to return to your United Kingdom, so proud of his sovereignty, his freedom and his good government. You will still have time to listen to the evening news, with the latest developments certainly comforting. # covid_19 #coronavirus #milan #london #linate #heathrow #staysafe ».
Encourage one tsunami of British “sanitary” tourists aimed at Italy with the intention of exploiting the excellent monitoring centers of this country is perhaps not the best of ideas: I humbly apologize. But as an Anglo-Australian who splits his time between London and Milan (I came to Italy for work and stayed there for love), I am eternally in awe of the the distance between the perception that one has abroad of Italy and the Italians and my experience of life here.
Today that the COVID-19 represents the greatest global threat and attacks us all without distinction, it is fair the prism of the coronavirus who often express these obvious and tired stereotypes.
Last March, the New York Times he wondered, with great arrogance, if Italy could adhere to the quarantine decreed by first story, only for That historical propensity of Italians for cunning that makes them so adept at circumventing the law. But even without mentioning the poor figure made by New York Times predicting the electoral preferences of its own readers (on the morning of the last presidential election the newspaper now confidently assumed the victory of Hillary Clinton), the statements about Italy seemed to me, at least, out of place. In March, Italy had already started to take the Covid-19 threat very seriously. In Linate, the temperature control had even started in February and when I returned to London in early March, almost all of my friends had already put on the masks and were working hard to provide isolation for elderly relatives. In fact, I was quick to send some packages of masks to Italy by mail, because nobody bought them in London, while in Milan they were nowhere to be found. But it was only what I had seen with my eyes and heard with my ears, how could I judge?
The following weeks, those of terrible first wave, have shown that, as always, the truth is halfway between what you think you know and what others think they know. Sure, there were those hilarious videos on YouTube, almost jokes, with the mayors of the small provincial towns going to personally scold the idiots who preferred the beach to quarantine. However, there was a very strong feeling of determination and national unity even in those dark days, when requests for protection devices launched by Italy to European countries not yet affected by the virus were ignored, when the streets of Milan echoed with lament. The Mermaids and the Bergamo tragedy seemed unstoppable. I started hearing from friends in the hospital, then from friends whose parents or grandparents had passed away. Everything will work out, but when?
Trapped in London, I couldn’t wait to go home, and thanks to a professional assignment and assignment to a doctor, I managed to return to Milan on April 16, but only after a strict and exhaustive check-up at the health center. at the Rome airport. When I arrived in Milan I isolated myself, then I took a swab (in London they were not available), which was negative.
Towards the end of May I managed to visit a recently reopened Prada workshop for an article aimed at American Vogue, which I wrote on a flight to London from Rome. And when New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo encouraged the federal government to be “tough. Watch out. Disciplined. United. Caring ”, these were exactly the qualities that I had the opportunity to observe in Valvigna, where the fashion house collaborated with local health structures to clean up workplaces, with a view to resuming production even remotely. In the words of Lamberto Berti, director of labor relations: “We are doing everything possible to get it right. We have to come back to life and the only way is to ensure adequate protection and safe behavior.».
When I landed at Heathrow, London, that same night, I found no control, no quarantine, or anything. It was only on 1st July, when the number of infections finally decreased in the UK as well, that I was forced to fill out the first follow-up form upon returning to that country.
British Prime Minister last month Boris johnson He hinted that the percentage of infections was (and still is) higher under his rule than in Italy, because Britain “is a country that loves freedom.” In the vernacular, the correct reaction to such nonsense is the one that I still enjoy saying without grammar: “Total shit“In England, the government has encouraged citizens to go to restaurants and go back to office. The prime minister’s adviser came up with the most elaborate and outlandish excuses for breaking the lockdown rules, and he was not fired. Yes you read the excellent magazine Private detectiveExamples of roofing and mismanagement abound that have marked the British government’s reaction to the health emergency. The tremendous lesson learned from Trump is that if he doesn’t care and waives any responsibility, any crime will go unpunished.
Therefore, the example of the British leadership has only encouraged citizens to do the same. And the failure of the English example lies in suggesting that “freedom” means doing only what we want and like, while the privilege of “true” freedom requires awareness of collective responsibility, in our own interest and in the interest of others.
That is why I enjoy standing in line and having the tampon placed in my nose, and immortalizing the act on Instagram, when I arrive in Milan after a visit to a restless and lost London. Because we know very well that a few presumptuous fools, anywhere in the world, are enough to offer this horrible virus the opportunity to develop, spread and kill our loved ones.
And although I know very well that Italy is not a perfect country, either to stop the virus or face any other intervention (this will be at another time, who knows), I can personally testify to the vigilance and seriousness that I found in this country and that makes me feel a lot more “free”, compared to the lack of vigilance and seriousness that I found in the UK.
perhaps Boris johnson he’s right about one thing: being (half) British too, the feeling of freedom, but the freedom that comes from seriousness, determination and accurate risk assessment, is what I appreciate most in Italy right now.
* Luke Leitch è Editor at Large di Vogue Italia, Contributing editor at Vogue trackand style editor 1843 (The Economist)
TRANSLATION BY RITA BALDASSARRE
October 17, 2020 (change October 17, 2020 | 08:21)
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