Week 25 - Considering the practicalities of being out and about in Italy

Edited BY

G P Kennedy

Ellie - Milan, Italy

Well, it has been two seasons now that this global malaise has been with us! I have often wondered, in the past months, what the lasting change has been. In Italy, the most interesting one to watch has been the separation of bodies. Or body space. 

This has never been Italians' strong suit and, I am quite sure, has exacerbated the impact. Now people are negotiating space in a new way, but I don't think they have really changed their mindset.

And because in-person communication has been disrupted, I am looking to see how people exchange information in other ways. For example, our next town over has a really interesting "civic temple" - a tradition that I will talk about at some other time, basically a small building, usually a former church, that displays ideas and images for non-religious veneration and contemplation. 

For example, this temple mourns those residents who fell in WWI, has a drawing of a Syrian refugee mother and such. A tiny peaceful place to spend a few minutes in the middle of the city. 

However, with the pandemic, the temple is closed to visitors. The wrought-iron grating doesn't do much to prevent contagion, however. People now approach it, touch, and breathe on the grating to look inside and share their germs in this novel way. 

The displays are still visible, infection is potentially not prevented, but visitors get the message that they are not allowed inside.

Or, for example, take this display of COVID-related info on the fence of  construction site. I don't think that visitors to the site or construction workers spend the time to read it. It is mostly wishful thinking for the project manager. 

But I guess passers-by feel safer as they see the worries of the company expressed in a visual way.

This past weekend I had the chance to visit my first gallery opening since the pandemic. Different from a museum, the whole point of a reception is to mingle with others. The gallery is housed in a former industrial site, now almost in the middle of the city, which is a yard surrounded by iron railings that now can be appreciated for their visual impact. 

But the free movement of coming and going, the beautiful choreography of the yard, is not there anymore. An attendant takes the temperature, writes down your phone number (necessary in order to contact you if someone happens to test positive after the opening), and dictates your movement.

And the elevator to the upper space is not available anymore: it has been locked since it's a small closed space. 

There was a wheelchair user who couldn't visit that room.

Finally, Sunday and Monday are voting days in Italy. It's for a referendum to change the number of parliamentarians from 900 total to a more manageable size. Even though this has been in the works for years and is not related directly to the pandemic, the atmosphere is tense. 

Italy has its share of negazionisti (or deniers, of the pandemic or the existence of the virus) and they are definitely trying to capitalize politically on people's fears and irritation with the restrictions. Here is what the inside of a poll site (in an elementary school) looks like. I really hope we do well by the next generation that is coming and counts on us to keep the world a good place to be. Or at least bring it back to normal.