'A beautiful day' in Italy, as shops and bars finally reopen

By Crispian Balmer and Giulio Piovaccari

 

A man wearing a face mask serves a customer, as shops are allowed to reopen as Italy eases some of the lockdown measures put in place during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at a cafe in Rome, Italy May 18, 2020. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

 

ROME (Reuters) - Italian shops, hairdressers and restaurants finally threw open their doors on Monday as the country sped up efforts to bounce back from the coronavirus crisis after a 10-week lockdown.

 

Customers could once again sip their morning cappuccino at the bar, albeit well spaced from other clients, and public Masses were allowed again in churches after bishops put pressure on the government to sanction religious services.

 

"I haven't worked for two and a half months. It's a beautiful, exciting day," said Valentino Casanova, a barman in Caffe Canova in Rome's central Piazza del Popolo.

 

Almost 32,000 Italians have died of COVID-19 since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21, the third-highest death toll in the world after the United States and Britain.

 

Italy was the first European country to impose nationwide restrictions in early March, only permitting an initial relaxation of the rules on May 4, when it allowed factories and parks to reopen.

 

Monday marked a major step forward on the road to recovery, with unlimited travel allowed in individual regions, friends once again meeting up and restaurants able to serve as long as tables were at least 2 metres (6.5 ft) apart.

 

Telephones rang incessantly in hairdresser salons, as unkempt clients rushed to make themselves more presentable.

 

"I already have 150 appointments, all very urgent, all of them insisting that they must be first on the list," said Stefania Ziggiotto, a hairdresser in the Alpine resort of Courmayeur. "I have a full agenda for three weeks."

 

ECONOMIC FEARS

 

However, many business owners worried that the reopening might not magic away their many problems, with lingering fears of the coronavirus keeping many Italians at home, while foreign tourists, vital for the economy, were utterly absent.

 

The government has said it will open up Italy's borders with Europe and allow free travel between the regions from June 3, but no-one expects a sudden influx of outsiders.

 

Monica Robaldo, owner of the Pierre Alexis 1877 restaurant in Courmayeur, said she would not reopen before the end of May.

 

"We have a loyal clientele ... mostly tourists, so while travel between the regions and from abroad is not allowed, there is not much point in reopening," she said.

 

The Treasury is predicting the economy will contract by at least 8% in 2020, the deepest recession since World War Two, and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said at the weekend he was taking a "calculated risk" in rolling back the rigid curbs.

 

Although there was noticeably more traffic on the roads of major cities on Monday morning, some people appeared hesitant to resume their old habits.

 

Angelo Lombardo, owner of Cocco Caffe in the northern city of Bologna, is allowed to serve a maximum four customers at any one time, but he said he wasn't having to worry about social distancing rules at present.

 

"A lot of people are just walking past and looking in from outside wondering whether they can come in or not," he said, criticising the government for doing too little to explain how the rules had changed.

 

"Let's give it time," he said. "It's the first day."

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-18

 

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Congratulations Italy, you have had a bad time with this virus, and hopefully people can do there best to get back to normal.

 

I know alot of Italians who will be over the moon today.

3 weeks and the second wave arrives.

Well done Italy! How long in Thailand - 1 or 2 years if ever!!!!! (stock photo)

 

Edited May 19, 20206 yr by Burma Bill
additional information

Could someone beam to southern Italy? (little affected by Covid).

Italy 32000 dead and can sit drinking an alcoholic beverage now, Thailand 56 dead and cannot sit drinking an alcoholic beverage, weird that!

tribalfusion 001,,,,,,,, wait ?

Even they are saying "calculated risk ".

The one that really worries me is the opening of borders.

All they need now is 1,000 mad Brits to arrive & ??????

 

23 hours ago, spiekerjozef said:

3 weeks and the second wave arrives.

Based on what? Nothing to say there will be a second wave

1 hour ago, tribalfusion001 said:

Italy 32000 dead and can sit drinking an alcoholic beverage now, Thailand 56 dead and cannot sit drinking an alcoholic beverage, weird that!

Thailand is more probable NOT to have a second wave.

6 minutes ago, bartender100 said:

Based on what? Nothing to say there will be a second wave

Based on history.

3 minutes ago, J Town said:

Based on history.

Looks fun, I love ups and downs.

7 minutes ago, J Town said:

Thailand is more probable NOT to have a second wave.

Of course they covered up the first, they can easily cover up the second and the third..also the fourth and the fifth..????

Edited May 19, 20206 yr by Sundown

1 hour ago, natway09 said:

tribalfusion 001,,,,,,,, wait ?

Even they are saying "calculated risk ".

The one that really worries me is the opening of borders.

All they need now is 1,000 mad Brits to arrive & ??????

 

Mad Brits, we are not mad, but eccentric 555

5 minutes ago, J Town said:

Based on history.

Sorry you can't compare them.

 

"One marked difference between the two is the most affected groups in the 1918 pandemic were otherwise healthy adults between the ages of 20 to 40. Mortality was also higher in people younger than five years of age and 65 and older.

“The 1918 pandemic strain influenza was new and novel for most people under the age of 40 or 50, but that’s where the death rate really was high—that’s different than the usual flu,” Mark Schleiss, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Minnesota told Healthline.

 

https://www.biospace.com/article/compare-1918-spanish-influenza-pandemic-versus-covid-19/

 

They never had any vaccines till the 1940's.  The world will be back to almost normal by Christmas IMHO

1 hour ago, bartender100 said:

The world will be back to almost normal by Christmas IMHO

I hope you're right, but would you bet your bottom dollar on it?

1 hour ago, bartender100 said:

They never had any vaccines till the 1940's.  The world will be back to almost normal by Christmas IMHO

 

You mean they have a vaccine this time?

2 hours ago, bartender100 said:

Based on what? Nothing to say there will be a second wave

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-18/over-100-million-in-china-s-northeast-thrown-back-under-lockdown

1 hour ago, Susco said:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-18/over-100-million-in-china-s-northeast-thrown-back-under-lockdown

It's not a second wave its cluster of 34 infections.

11 hours ago, J Town said:

Based on history.

irrelevant 100 years ago

2 hours ago, UbonThani said:

irrelevant 100 years ago

And those who do not learn from history . . .

42 minutes ago, J Town said:

And those who do not learn from history . . .

My previous answer was too lazy and I can't be bothered.

Edited May 20, 20206 yr by Cryingdick
just because.

14 hours ago, J Town said:

Thailand is more probable NOT to have a second wave.

Thailand never had a 1st "wave".