At Home : Letters from Italy at the time of Coronavirus. Story Three : Civitanova Marche.

On day 5, Italians are realising to what extent they are creatures of habit. Now that some of the most precious daily rites are denied, there is a collective longing for the early morning espresso, the nipping into church just before lunch, the sociable lunchtime chat at the newsstand, the gelato licked leisurely after lunch, the evening glass of white wine in the piazza, the walk after dinner, the late night chat under your building. The laughter, the company, the comfort of companionability .

In many parts of the country, in fact, Rome included, churches are closed, something that even during the Black Death or the worst days of World War Two never, ever happened.

As occurs however with us all, new customs take over quite quickly when space has been cleared of old ones. I do not know anyone who is not marking their days with four daily customs, two created spontaneously by flashmob.

The first is a country-wide noontime applause to support health professionals on the hospital front lines. Depending where you are, it can sound like warm clapping in a small concert hall after a lovely performance, or like lusty clapping accompanied by “bravissimi !” after a wedding. One friend, who lives alone outside of Florence, claps at noon all by herself (“I have to say I am grateful”, she said) while her dog adds his voice with deep baritone barks.

There is such appreciation of the astounding efforts of nurses and doctors and hospital staff. Daily media coverage chronicles their efforts to reduce the number of dead, and the numbing exhaustion that they are suffering.

The second is music that spring out of terraces, balconies, gardens and rooftops. Using the hashtag #unitimalontani, and with the intention to “banish solitude”, at about 6 PM yesterday Italians across the country belted out their national anthem. Today they came together for the feel-good tune “Azzurro” of Adriano Celentano and tomorrow will join in on ‘Il cielo è sempre più blu’ of Rino Gaetano. Instruments of every kind are actively encouraged, including banjos and pot lids with spoons.

Last evening at 6 PM, a Rome friend threw open her windows and played a delicious jazz piece arranged by Milanese Fabrizio Caligaris.

There is space for everyone, in the warmest, fullest sense, and these evening music-fests are events that only Italy could plan and pull off.

The third event is approached with apprehension and at the same time a profound need to know. Also around 6 PM, figures are posted on the website of the National Ministry of Health recording the number of new cases of diagnosed coronavirus, the number of total cases, the number of recoveries and then the number of deaths, this both nationally and by region. With despair I share that Italy lost another 215 of its own in the last 24 hours, and that also in the last day an additional 2705 Italians were diagnosed with the virus. The total number of coronavirus cases diagnosed to date is today 21,157. On February 21, Italy had three cases. The number of tests done here so far in these three weeks is 109,170.

And the fourth event is the Telegiornale, or television news, offered on a wide selection of channels, and focused almost entirely on the theme of coronavirus. Everyone watches the Telegiornale, often during dinner, frequently while eating soups, polenta, pasta and risotti.

Today’s story comes from a small town in Marche, Civitanova, where Ray, lives with his long time partner Jana. Twenty-five years ago Ray approached Insider’s Italy with a request for language classes in Italy. His Italian is now outstanding and he has been absorbed deeply into the fabric of this city of 44,000, near the sea, which has a stunning older, upper town that is a rabbit warren of alleys, staircases, and steep ups-and-downs.

Ray is a most gifted portrait photographer. His photographs were the keystone of my earliest website, in 1994. These images are his, and are of Civitanova Marche not in these surreal times.

March 14, 2020

Civitanova Marche

A quick composition for you.

Since Jana’s immunity is compromised and I am soon eighty we obey the quarantine. We will not leave the house.

Delivery people hand over packages staying carefully a meter away. Shop keepers, friends and relatives leave food outside the door. Someone who knows what Jana loves left Jana a stainless steel pentola <pan> full of yucky lumache di mare <sea snails>. So we do not feel isolated. Staying put is not bad as long as there is enough vino rosso piceno and gli Spaghetti. I’m nearly finished with Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet.

Jana is watching romantic and violent stupidagine <stupidities> on NetFlix.it.  Amazon brought us a time-consuming puzzle which displays a collection of buttons, shells, wine corks and hundreds of kinds of cianfrusaglie <worthless objects>.

A friend sent a WhatsApp invitation to a musical flashmob here in Civitanova joining Italians nationwide to sing to one other from our windows and balconies. We’ll be doing that. Why not ?