My family is in lockdown in our isolated house in the countryside a mile from the sea outside Ravenna. It is amazing how easily the state can deprive citizens of liberty. Like everyone in Italy we have now been under virtual house arrest for a week and cannot leave home without a valid reason. The novelty of such a dramatic situation quickly gave way to ennui. Valid reasons for leaving home are: going to work, buying food or medicine, or seeing the doctor. Everyone must carry a completed form (downloaded from the Interior Ministry website) in which they declare the reason they are not at home. If stopped by one of Italy’s numerous types of police they must hand them this form. Mobile phone records are used to check whether people are telling the truth.
Before long, Italy will overtake China as the world capital of coronavirus deaths
As of Tuesday, in addition to having a valid reason you must also declare that you do not have the virus. How on earth are we supposed to know? WhatsApp chat rooms are alive with people trying to work out what is and is not allowed. How many people can leave home to do the shopping for food, for example, and how often? Little is clear. A town near Bologna — 50 miles away — has just been cordoned off completely because it has such a high number of infected and dying people. Carla, my Italian wife, is suffering more than me as she is an ardent Catholic, and churches are closed and Mass has been cancelled until after Easter at the earliest. She communicates with our priest, Don Mauro, via text message.
The highlight of my day is driving to the supermarket in my seven-seater Land Rover Defender, armed with a completed form to show the police if I am stopped.
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