Italy Reconnects
Let’s not use catchphrases like Our New Normal – there’s nothing normal about it, and the idea of living with it for the foreseeable future is hard to bear!
May The 4th Be With Italy
And so, today, we switched back on. Not every shop or every profession, but several million Italians are back in business and at their desks. Our cities have been slowly coming back to life for the he past couple of weeks, and today they eventually lost that unique, almost sacred look of meaningful emptiness that…
Phase 2, Strategy 0
“Andrà tutto bene” needs more preparation to go from aspiration to reality.
Fase 2, strategia 0
Dobbiamo continuare a crederci ciecamente in questa Santa Trinità e ad invocarla, o prima o poi si farà carne ed ossa con un tampone in mano, un’app-arizione sui nostri cellulari, e un luogo dedicato per un vero isolamento?
Vestiti della pandemia
Oggi mi sono messa una camicetta e i pantaloni – non particolarmente eleganti, ma dei veri pantaloni, con bottone e cintura. La mia vicina 86enne, con la quale ci salutiamo ogni giorno sul pianerottolo, mi ha chiesto dove dovevo andare, così elegante.
My Empty City
I went downtown yesterday, for the first time in six weeks. A few more shops have opened, and I needed a replacement for SodaStream (the one thing I missed during isolation!) So I was allowed to venture outside the 400m-limit currently imposed in my town for simple walks (a doubling from the initial 200m!) Click…
So how is the lockdown working for you?
#ItalyLockDown #WorldLockDown April 3, 2020 Today was originally planned to be the day when restrictions imposed on March 9 would be lifted. Back then, we looked at the calendar and wondered, how on earth can we survive a lockdown until April 3 – as individuals, as families cramped in our apartments, as a society? Well,…
God Bless Italia
God Bless America. Negli Stati Uniti più che una benedizione è un sottofondo costante e confortante al quale non si fa quasi più caso. Accompagna la fine di quasi ogni dichiarazione ufficiale, lo dicono i Presidenti in chiusura di discorsi e comizi, ma anche i giornalisti, gli attori, i cantanti. È una richiesta a un…
God Bless Italia (ENG)
God Bless America. In the U.S., more than a blessing, this is a constant and comforting background which one hardly notices anymore. It provides the closing of almost every official statement, presidential statements or stump speeches, but also for journalists, actors, singers. It is a request to a secular god for a blessing that crosses…
Non sprecare risorse e non sprecare fiducia
In una terra dove ogni abitante nasce praticamente dotato di sciarpa, e chiunque passa qui in inverno se ne procura subito una, la distribuzione di scaldacolli pagati con i soldi pubblici ha suscitato molte perplessità.
Teeny Tiny Thanos
We still have a lot to learn about the virus but we can already say with confidence that we are dealing with a teeny tiny son of a bitch who is also incredibly cunning. Cunning and mean. Like a Teeny Tiny Thanos.
#ItalyLockDown 6
Tough day – 368 deaths today, over 20,000 infected, and, in other otherworldly news, Germany is closing its borders… It is very, very hard to look at Europe right now, with the tragedy unfolding across the continent and every leader handling things his or her own way… So one hopes against hope that all this…
#ItalyLockDown 5
Only a quick note tonight to say that we are ok. Everything looks quiet outside as well as very orderly. Supermarkets are well stocked I hear, like bakeries, produce shops, and so on. Life continues as well as it can in Bolzano, Alto Adige Südtirol, in the year of the pandemic. I feel mentally exhausted…
ItalyLockDown 4
Europe is locking down, one country at a time, and every closure is a painful event for every European citizen. I spent the day trying to figure out if, and if so, how, Alex should come back home. Hopefully he can do so on Sunday. Anxiety is mounting at the enormity of what is unfolding…
#ItalyLockDown 3
Not less surreal than yesterday. But today it all became also very personal. Our hometown registered the first victim, the grandmother of somebody very, very close to us. She was 85 and relatively ok, with pre-existing conditions – well, who among your parents or grandparents in that age group doesn’t have pre-existing conditions?!?She had been…
#IoRestoACasa
Now, every day, every hour, something else is chipped away from the pillars of our everyday life. And when it happens, we wonder how could we simply take it all for granted?
ItalyLockDown Day 1
I don’t even know where to start. I can just say that it still doesn’t seem real. Overwhelming mood: sadness. First of all, lockdown does not mean standstill – shops and workplaces are open, so (fewer) people are out and about, supposedly keeping at a safe distance from each other. Policy makers in Lombardy want…
Lockdown
Well, that was quick. The whole country is in total lockdown, and, strangely, the news almost came as a relief, simply because it was the right thing to do. Mitigation, mitigation, mitigation. And about that thing that “only the elderly really need intensive care:” Lombardy’s Welfare Minister Gallera said today that 33% of those needing…
Coronavirus Caught Us Off Guard. Don’t Let This Happen to You.
March 8, 2020 To all our American friends who recently reached out to us: thank you! So nice to hear from you and heartwarming to know you are thinking of Italy! The short answer to your concerns is: situation still feels unreal, so many “this has never happened before” moments, but we are all ok;…
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Chasing Waterfalls 