At Home : Letters from Italy at the Time of Coronavirus. Story Eleven : Spello

Much of what I love to wear is made by Paola. Paola is a transplanted Roman who moved to Spello in Umbria in 1996, and there opened first one and then two clothing boutiques called Bottega degli Intrecci.

Spello is a remarkably beautiful and unspoiled hill town south of Assisi and has a population of 8500.

Paola designs, locally produces and looms all of her clothing out of beautiful fabrics that are meant to be worn. They are naturally chic and colored with organic tints.

She and her son are also gifted macrame artisans.

She wrote me yesterday : “In Umbria we are fortunate because there have been so few coronavirus cases, and so few deaths.

Spello itself has had no deaths at all but one very serious case, our mayor, who for a long time was in Intensive Care and seriously ill.

The entire town stood by him, with a concerted show of encouragement and affection. And fortunately, on Easter day, he sent out a note on the social network that he was feeling better and was out of the ICU. There are very few cases of contagion in Spello itself, and those who have the virus have self quarantined and are being looked in on by the health service.

Sometimes at night, or when the village is very quiet, I take walks through the beautiful streets of the town, which are fragrant with the smells of spring.

I have my dog to take out, and the flowers in front of my store to water.

My days are spent doing yoga, meditating, and working on a better on-line presence for my clothing line, hoping at very least to cover my expenses by selling some of my most classic clothing. I’m designing new clothing, working out patterns, manually assembling prototypes and also doing the same for accessories and jewelry.

My partner loves to cook, and amuses himself by trying out new recipes.

His creations are delivered to our friends in the village.

Here in Spello, as elsewhere in Italy, there is a strong chain of solidarity, and those who are not up to doing their own shopping leave payment in stores and the shopkeepers shop for them; some of our youth then deliver the goods, or go to the pharmacies for them and bring them their medicines. Our little neighborhood food shop has gotten very good at delivering too, bringing orders to our homes via Lambretta. The pharmacy has organized out-of-hours deliveries for those who are housebound.

Every day a police car with a loudspeaker comes through the streets of town reminding us that we are not to leave our homes.

A number of Americans live in Spello and I keep in touch with them by video chat or I drop by and we speak from outside their windows. I check to make sure that they have what they need. Many of them have told me that they feel so much safer here during the pandemic than they would have felt in the United States, and that they are so relieved to be here, and not there.

I feel lucky to have these views, from the windows of my partner’s home.

This is Aria, our year-old dog, whom we got at a dog shelter.

Here my partner is delivering warm pizza to our friends who live downstairs.

This is during the snow storm of a few days ago.

I am living in a continual state of despair mixed with hope as I consider what is ahead of me. My store is my life’s work. And the looming problem is the future. It is the question for us all. Our economic model must change because the planet cannot survive without a radical reorganization. But can humanity manage to implement such a turnaround in time ? I worry for all those who will suffer while the rich and the cunning find ways to avoid disaster.

I believe in humanity, and therefore keep faith that if each of us is accountable to the next, and is honorable with themselves and with others, things can be better — but not until we have political systems that are not focused on special interests.

While I am completely agnostic, I do in this moment see the Pope as a powerful political figure, perhaps one of the few with real wisdom and vision. 

I so want to continue my work. I derive so much satisfaction from seeing the amazement in the faces of visitors from around the world who step into my store and cannot fully absorb the idea of a clothing store where everything is made by hand, with natural fibers, and produced with complete respect for the environment. 

To love what you are doing, and the community life of a town that is both cohesive and touristic is I think a real privilege.  With all my heart I hope to be able to continue to meet new friends through my store. That is the great fortune of what I do and very precious to me.”