One From the Heart

Italy was the first nation to go on lockdown because of Covid 19, with everything closed but stores selling essentials.  Several news outlets have stories about the response of Italians, which was, in part, to sing.

Many Italians, in big cities and small towns, still live in multi-family dwellings, which in cities tend to be large apartment blocks. Homes tend to be right up against each other.  So Italians are often just a window or a balcony or a building away from each other.  That's the context of these stories, which suggest that the musicmaking began spontaneously but quickly became organized through social media.

Here are excerpts from a New York Times story, which also published the soulful photo above:  

Italians Find ‘a Moment of Joy in This Moment of Anxiety’
Under lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, song breaks out from rooftops, balconies and windows.

"It started with the national anthem. Then came the piano chords, trumpet blasts, violin serenades and even the clanging of pots and pans — all of it spilling from people’s homes, out of windows and from balconies, and rippling across rooftops.

Finally, on Saturday afternoon, a nationwide round of applause broke out for the doctors on the medical front lines fighting the spread of Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak.

“It was from our hearts, to say thanks and show that we can get past this,” said Emma Santachiara, 73, who came out onto the terrace of her apartment in the Monteverde section of Rome to clap with her granddaughters.

On Friday evening, at the exact hour that health officials normally update the daily numbers of the country’s increasing infected and dead, Italians from the southern islands to the Alps sang the national anthem and played instruments.

“We’re Italians, and being vocal is part of our culture,” said Giorgio Albertini, 51, an archaeology professor who clapped from his apartment balcony in the university district of Milan, calling it a way “to feel a community, and to participate of the collective grief.”

On Friday, he sang “Oh Mia Bella Madunina,” a traditional Milanese song about city pride, while his 9-year-old son accompanied him at the violin.

At noon in Verona on Saturday, the peal of church bells gave way to the clapping of hands as Cristina Del Fabbro, 53, stood on her balcony applauding with her daughter Elisa, 21.

“We want to thank doctors and nurses,” she said. “They can’t stay safe at home as we do, they are tired and worried but they stay there, for those who get sick and need them.”

In Florence, the opera tenor Maurizio Marchini serenaded the city. Danilo Rossi, who plays first viola at Milan’s La Scala opera house, played music from his balcony, which was adorned with a banner that read, “Let’s not give up, we will make it.”

In Naples, balconies of an apartment complex, dripping with laundry, became stages for residents singing traditional songs in unison. Elsewhere in Naples, a DJ set up turntables on his balcony and played the Frankie Valli song “Can’t Take My Eyes off You” as neighbors sang and played guitar along from their windows.

Back in Rome, Ms. Santachiara spent Saturday teaching her 3-year-old granddaughter, Chiara, the words to an Italian classic, Azzurro, which Italians will sing tonight.

The girl’s father is a doctor who has been putting in extra hours and covering shifts to make sure that people don’t go without primary care. He has been sleeping in his office where he brought in a toaster to heat up food." [end of the Times quotes]

Italians are rightly proud of their public health system, which is generally considered the best in Europe.  But even this system has been overwhelmed, requiring heroic measures.  Through news and social media, Italians are aware of these efforts, and the national moment of applause expresses their appreciation.

But the singing is about more: it is about resilience, it is about, even in crisis, being who they are.