Hail Italia!

Italians celebrated Liberation Day national holiday last week Click for full photo

Italy, the first country in Europe to conspicuously suffer from the global covid crisis, is slowly starting to emerge from lockdown. At least for today, the virus numbers are down, and another nation--Great Britain--has surpassed Italy for the most deaths in Europe officially from the virus.

  In the latest in his series of observations for the New York Times, Italian writer Beppe Severgnini (no relation on my Severini side, as far as I know) reports:

"Now that we are beginning to relax the lockdown — cautiously, anxiously — perhaps we can say it: Italy coped. The national health system sustained the impact, although 153 doctors and over 50 nurses lost their lives, and thousands were infected. Sixty million people stayed at home and, by and large, followed the rules. That was a surprise, given our reputation for being undisciplined."

Italians are subject to so much regulation, he suggests, that they scrutinize each one to see if it makes sense for them.  If it does, they follow it.  This one did.  They followed it, more or less completely.

And they did it for longer than anyone, by reaching into their shared character:
"We coped because we found other resources that were always there: realism, inventiveness, extended families, solidarity, memories."

While Italians obeyed the rules of physical distancing, they didn't for a moment engage in social distancing. "We are a social bunch, and the web just provided us with extra tools. Family and personal relationships — whose importance in Italian life cannot be underestimated — helped a lot in this crisis. Men cooked for their families with the help of their children, while mothers became part-time teachers. Friends sought out friends; if they were unwell, even more so. Aperitivo on the balcony — toasting with your neighbors — was no one-off Instagram occasion; for many, especially people living alone, it became a regular, soothing way to end a nerve-racking day."

Severgnini concludes:

"A pandemic, like any major crisis, is revealing. It’s a lie detector for individuals and for nations. People can bluff for a day, a week, maybe a month, but not throughout a time like this."

And in contrast to some other nations:

"In Italy, so far, no arson, no rioting, no rallies, let alone armed protest. Just the odd fool who’d drive around to see whether he would get caught by the police. We decided that the lockdown made sense, and for two months we locked ourselves down. The rulers should congratulate the ruled, for once. The Italians deserve praise and gratitude."

To which I can only add, Salute!