Italy is in total lockdown now
 

We are now on a much more restricted (nation wide) lockdown, due to last for two weeks. All shops, bars, and restaurants are closed, except for groceries, pharmacies, and newsvendors.

You can leave home to go to work, although, where possibile, working from home is recommended. You can leave home to care for relatives who are not self-sufficient. You can shop for food, medicine, or newspapers and magazines.

You can take a walk, solo, not with other people, and you can walk your dog. You can't associate with others when away from home, except as necessary for work or shopping.

Whenever you're outside your home you have to carry a certificate, which you can download and compile, attesting a valid reason for being outside. Failure to establish a valid reason can result in heavy fines.

A large number of people fled from northern Italy last weekend, when the first restrictions were about to take effect. They headed to family or to vacation homes in the south. They are not being welcomed with open arms. Many have been reported, sometimes by relatives, and they are fined and put in quarantine.
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Such a tragedy. Stay safe.

Many people wearing masks today. Mostly the useless types. The more obvious thing was the strong smell of alcohol disinfectant.

I fully expect other countries to follow suit, sooner or later.
Keep safe.

No flying into or out of Schengen to the US from tomorrow.

I don't find it scary. If it works to slow down the contagion, so that hospital don't get overwhelmed, then I don't mind the restrictions.

I really sympathize with parents who have small children and who can't work from home. All the daycare centers are closed.

I chatted with a guy in Vasto this morning. He is in his office (at a school) which is empty of kids, he is the IT manager and helping support the internet-learning that is going on. His kids are at-home learning from the internet. Apart from food shops and chemists, all the shops are closed. Next week he has been told to take a holiday.

Alas, I just cancelled my reservations for Venice and Florence for late May. This was my 70th birthday trip, and hopefully it will be all over by May, but we are being cautious. Haven't cancelled Switzerland yet.I will, but I'm dragging my feet. Hoping Lufthansa will accommodate changes beyond April.

Like others, I'm so disappointed, but better safe than sorry.

While the measures Italy has taken seem drastic, the decisive actions will no doubt slow the pace of infections. I'm sorry for the elderly and those whose lives have been turned upside down.

Thanks, bvlenci for the updates. I really enjoy reading your posts.

I have never seen Florence so empty. We had to stand in line to get in the grocery store but it wasn’t bad. We got lucky and found an earlier flight home (today Thursday). Some of the news we were reading was so disturbing. I was surprised the airport was not crowded in Florence and Munich since it is the last day you can fly out of Europe before the ban starts.

We have been Whatsapping with friends and relatives - some in Abruzzo and one in the north, a teacher. I feel for everyone but agree with these measures, and I wish we were doing more here in the states. Crazy times. Thanks for the post, bvlenci. Stay healthy.

Thanks for the info, bvl. it sounds pretty tough but if it works it will be worth it. Strange to have to go out separately to walk the dog or whatever - what if you cannot physically go out without your carer, for example?

Stay well, both of you.

Just received an email from Italia Rail pre-announcing their refund policy which seemed very fair to me.

We have non refundable tickets for the end of May, and they will be offering to issue travel vouchers good for two years for the amount we spent. (And those could also be used by friends or family) In addition, they will issue $100 for hotel, tours, or restaurants.

Springstein, we just got that same rail email too. The irony. Due to our printer breaking down around Xmas and also my careless accidental erasure of the original email notification of purchase soon after, we'd had to re-buy our train tickets. There is probably some Italia Rail staffer at this moment seeing my double/repeat purchase for those very same dates and wondering, "What was wrong with this guy? Did he forget that he'd already bought the tix?!" Insurance has us covered no matter what, so no biggie. Fingers crossed for Italy.
I am done. The end.

Thanks for this report bvlenci. Good to know what IRL looks like.

Oh God, that footage of the actor with his dead sis in Napoli. Respect.
I am done. The end.

I assume that husband and wife, or carer and cared for, can go out together. My husband and I are going for walks together. The point is not to spread the contagion, and, so far, we don't have to stay in separate rooms at home!

The city of Ancona is closing all of the parks that have gates, because people (especially teens) were congregating there.

My husband has been teaching his grandson coding. Yesterday, they moved the lessons to Skype.

bvienci,
Thank you for sharing your experiences living through this terrible experience. It sounds like you’re finding the joy in the simpler pleasures of life and making the best of a bad situation.

I’m in NYC and we’re starting to see normal life shrinking around us, with most museums shut down and Broadway theater going dark.

https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/20...C12-P9-S4.4-T1

You're supposed to stay a metre a part. It's actually been suggested to stay in different rooms. Not sure how they would work in a small city apartment

As they say - Desperate times, desperate measures.

As many know I live in Como which is in Lombardy, the worst hit part of Italy. However, it is one of the regions with a pretty good health system. Extensive testing has shown up a lot of individuals who are positive but I fear that this does not necessarily reflect the reality in other Regions as from direct knowledge I know that testing for the virus is not nearly as extensive.

From what I understand having a true understanding of the spread of the virus is crucial to being able to take the necessary steps to control it and flatten the curve as is the current objective, apparently. All in all the information from Italy and its spread is obviously more reliable than that from other countries such as China and Iran. America should take note!

On a more personal level it is remarkable how daily life has changed. Pharmacies are obviously still open but many have set up temporary glass screens and regulate the numbers in them by a rigorous separation between customers - many require a 2 meter separation rather than the 1 meter previously suggested by the government. Many supermarkets restrict the number of customers inside at any one time and most staff as well as customers have face masks.

In most Italian supermarkets you find the fruit and veg section first of all. This section has plastic gloves which are used before selecting the fresh produce. I now use them throughout the supermarket throwing them away only after I leave.

Now there are random checks all over towns in Italy and at any time you can be asked why you are traveling around. Going to a pharmacy and a supermarket is generally ok but obviously it should be one close to where you actually live. In addition, newsagents and tabacchi (selling cigarettes etc) are open. Maybe Italy would be in a better place if both were closed!

There are 2 noticeable features if you have to go out. The first is a phenomenal reduction in traffic - it almost seems like driving at 3 or 4 in the morning but the sun is out. The second is a huge drop in pollution (aided also by the very warm winter). I have never seen skies so blue.

Thank you too, nochblad, for this news from the "front". What an extraordinary change from the Italy we all know and love. I suppose that a reduction in traffic is an advantage but what about those who can't get out at all ? Bad enough to be shut in with one's "loved ones" but what about those who live alone?

I fear that our government is not paying enough attention to what Italy is going through, and we will pay for it.

This is a heartbreaking account by a surgeon in Bergamo from the front lines.

It was before the lock downs but it kind of hints at why such a Draconian measure had to be taken:

https://www.reddit.com/r/medicine/co...ergamo_in_the/

I wonder if it would be recommended that people cook vegetables, rather than eating salads for instance.

Stir-frying isn't part of Italian cuisine but maybe grilled vegetables for the time being?

I have not found Italy to be big on fresh salads anyway. Plus, some of the best meals I have had in Italy are grilled vegetables!

Around here, Italians are very big on salads. There are more types of lettuce in the supermarket than other green vegetables put together.

I, like Nochblad, have been using my plastic glove until I leave the supermarket. Since the lockdown, I haven't been to the supermarket at all. I stocked up two days earlier.

bvlenci and others in Italy: Just wishing you the very best during this very difficult time.

Thank you!

I had read that only one person should go shopping, as this article states, and that makes sense. As far as husband and wife staying one metre apart in the great outdoors, or living in separate rooms at home, that makes no sense to me unless one of them is symptomatic. I didn't see anything in the article that said that husband and wife should stay one metre apart. We go out for walks on country roads, where we rarely meet anyone. Today we passed two men, who were walking on opposite sides of the road. We passed in the middle, single file, and were at a safe distance from both of them.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...5639d2464.jpeg
One of our favorite country roads

I have pictures of Ragusa and I believe it was Caltagirone, from a distance, that look similar to that.

This is in Le Marche. The town on the hill is Corinaldo.

I'm surprised that the landscape is similar to that of Sicily.

Bocca lupo.

Not the landscape so much as towns built on top of hills rising over the surrounding landscape.

Especially over a green landscape, you have the bright buildings almost glowing in the sunlight.

The one I took just outside Caltagirone is the city above a green valley, with an elevated freeway in the distance.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...ac26ed0340.jpg

Glad to hear about salads in Le Marche bvlenci! That plus your beautiful picture, Caltagirone too, are at least a small substitute for my canceled trip.

A lady was on CNN tonight from Italy. She looked stressed. She said the kids are loving family time and they bake a cake everyday but she and her husband were sad hearing about friends being sick and those passing. Please take care.

And a song from Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson below: *'Year of the Plague'.*


I am done. The end.

On the bright (?) side, it is nice seeing Italians singing together separately on their balconies in cities across the country:

Twitter

"

Coronavirus:sì alle passeggiate ma uscite da soli"

That's the headline.

If the police see two people walking together what would they do? Ask for a marriage license?

some balconies in older towns are very close. May not be a good idea to talk to your neighbor from the balcony unless they can get a 2 meter buffer.

when that cruise ship in Japan was quarantined and the passengers were suppose to be isolated, there were pictures of people leaning over to talk to their neighbors in adjacent balcony.

but certainly understandable that people would want to keep their spirits up in trying times.

We live in a small town. All the police know us.

My best wishes to bvlenci from Switzerland, the second most infected country of Europe.
We have now 180 poeple infected by coronavirus per million inhabitants (rate of growth 30 per cent).

Good luck to you and your family, bvlenci, and to all of Italy. Stay safe.
It breaks my heart to see and read the news reports. I hope this nightmare will end soon, for the whole world.

Someone posted on social media a Bergamo newspaper.

He went through 10 pages of death notices, with many of them having a picture of the deceased.