Life under lockdown: Italy is being consumed by panic

The whole of Italy is now in quarantine and infected by the kind of panic I imagine an invaded people feels as it waits for the enemy to knock on the door.

I work from home and suppose I must be thankful at least for that. I have just heard the youngest of our six children, Giuseppe, who is four, ask Carla, his mother: ‘Mamma, do you know why it’s called coronavirus?’ ‘No, bello, I don’t, tell me’ she replied. ‘Because it’s the king of tutti i virus!’ he crowed which caused Carla to smother him with kisses. ‘Bravissimo! Amore mio! Bravissimo!’ The word ‘corona’, in case you didn’t know, is Italian for crown. Did he invent that himself I wonder? The whole episode brought a tear to my eye and a surge of impotent anger — anger that such a beautiful human gesture, a mother kissing and hugging her small child, could perhaps prove fatal.

Headlines in online Italian newspapers that catch my eye include ‘The virus remains in the air for 30 minutes and travels 4.5 metres’, ‘Checks on movement to be done via mobile phone records’ and ‘Government may order suspension of all loan repayments’ — not that I have a loan, thank God.

The Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, announced the ‘closure’ of Italy in a television address to the nation on Monday night, saying: ‘Our habits must change now’ and ‘Everyone must remain at home.’

We live near Ravenna, in the countryside a mile from the Adriatic coast, and our children rely on us to get in and out of the city — a ten-minute drive away. Children seem less prone to catch the virus than any other age group but we have convinced ourselves, I cannot remember quite why, that they can act as symptomless carriers.