At Home : Letters from Italy at the Time of Coronavirus. Story Eight : Treviso.

Giorgia in Treviso is an outstanding cook. The best holiday meal I ever had was in her home when she lived in Rome : tiny homemade tortellini that were jewels suspended in a capon broth that she labored over for days.

Treviso, a charming, prosperous, walled city of tiny canals is also a place of extraordinary gastronomic interest : the birthplace of tiramisu…

a city where radicchio is prepared in every possible wonderful way…

and the home of (in my mind) the best pasta e fagioli anyplace in Italy (dreamlike pasta e fasoi.) Polenta is a specialty, sauced in various ways.

Wines are delectable, and all of our favorite trattorie have by-the-glass selections of prosecco, each of which is an aromatic feast.

Giorgia has lost her interest in leaving the house. She writes : “We can take a walk if we wish but we are so tightly restricted. The incentive to go out is rather small as shopping is not exactly a joy. It is actually rather grim, seeing Italians who normally love food standing endlessly in line, and then wandering about the supermarket in their masks. It is like watching zombies in a science fiction movie and I must confess that it takes away my appetite. I therefore rarely leave the house at all.

Having two children at home is sometimes easy, sometimes not easy as we move into week five. It is all very odd, this experience.”

Treviso, like much of the Veneto, has managed to avoid the decimation of population that has ravaged its neighbor Lombardy by electing a more proactive campaign towards containment of the virus starting with extensive testing of symptomatic and asymptomatic cases early on and proactive tracing of potential positives.

From The Guardian today :

“The number of deaths from coronavirus in Italy has passed 15,000.

On Saturday, the country registered 681 deaths from Covid-19 – 86 less than Friday, bringing the total to 15,362. Currently, 88,274 are infected, with an increase of 2,886 new cases, 547 more than Friday. At this point 1,238 have recovered, bringing the total number to 20,996.

In total, 124,632 people have tested positive with coronavirus in Italy, including people who have died, recovered and the ones who are currently infected. On Friday, Giuseppe Conte, the Italian prime minister, wrote to Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, calling on the EU to be bolder as it faces up to the coronavirus emergency.

‘European solidarity has not been felt and there is no more time to waste,” reads the letter, published by Italian daily La Repubblica. “It is time to show more ambition, more unity and more courage.’

Lockdown in the country could be extended until 1 May and ‘phase two’ of living with the virus can begin in mid-May, emergency commissioner Angelo Borrelli said on Friday.

The government has officially extended the coronavirus lockdown until mid-April, but Borrelli stressed the importance of keeping to ‘the most rigorous conduct in observing lockdown rules’. “

A domani.