Si riparte ! (We’re off !)

“Si riparte !” We are off.

Well to some extent, we certainly are.

We also are not. Regional governors Italy wide and city mayors remind youth anxious to get back to aperitivo hour on city center streets — companionably squashed together, without masks and with a Prosecco or beer in hand — that, in the words of Campania’s characterful governor, “aperitivo tonight, coffin tomorrow. “

Walking through any Italian city shows Italians celebrating the return to a semblance of a life of familiarity.

There however have been at least 32,500 deaths in Italy to COVID-19. Countless have been the bankruptcies. There will be countless more bankruptcies.

Still, sixteen days in from the advent of Phase Two on May 4, the data is encouraging: new cases are 665 of which 294 are in Lombardy and 371 scattered across the country, mostly in the north. There are no diagnosed new cases in Umbria, Valle d’Aosta, Molise and Basilicata. Countrywide, recoveries are markedly up. Pressure has eased in hospitals everywhere, most notably in the stressed north.  There are 676 ICU patients currently hospitalized and 9624 in ordinary wards. Two weeks ago there were 1,333 and 15,769 respectively. 

In terms of regulation, here’s where we stand today : Italians can move freely within their region of residence and can meet whomever they want. The reviled self-certification form is no longer required every time you leave the home.  Bars, restaurants and hairdressers are (or can be) — with formal restrictions — open. Traveling from region to region is still prohibited, but there are exceptions.  Many museums and archeological sites are open.  Pompeii, closed since March 8, reopens on May 26 (what a day that will be to visit ! )

It all feels, as a friend in Florence says, very comforting, if not the same, but still so much better.

Everyone I know has been walking, and all those who can have been immersing themselves in nature, in one of the most beautiful springs in modern memory.

If you, an Italy lover, want to do something concrete for Italy, please, as soon as it is safe to do so, travel here. Italy is starved for tourism. The kind of considered, responsible tourism that for 30 years Insider’s Italy has proposed and planned is exactly right for this moment.

While it is too early to book a ticket, it is not too early to move from dreaming to formalizing ideas that will become a plan.

Significantly, from June 3, Italy opens all borders to travelers coming from any European Union country. Your turn will come next.

Where will you go first ?