London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 10, 2025

Italy is traumatised and normality is still only a distant dream

Singing has stopped and shutters are closed as Italy struggles to recover from the death, fear and hardship brought by the virus.

Europe watched Italy's human catastrophe unfold and was warned about what was to come.

For Italians it was too late to prepare - they had to learn the horrors of this pandemic as they lived them.

When Italy's government announced the first lockdown in Europe, few could have predicted how long it would last.

Three weeks became nearly eight. The deadline was extended time and time again.

Even as Italy moves to "phase 2" from Monday, the country is lifting measures more slowly and more cautiously than most others.

Perhaps little wonder when you see the trauma this country has endured in little over two months.

Even in the early days of lockdown, you could feel the country was in a state of high anxiety. As Italians saw the health emergency escalate, they also had to process the shock of being the first country in Europe ordered to stay home.

One conversation remains etched in my memory more than many others.

On day two of lockdown I met Aurelio Fragapanni waiting outside a pharmacy to collect his sister's medication. He displayed the charisma and warmth shown by so many Italians.

But one simple question - "how are you?" - and he began to cry.

As a senior citizen he was in the virus's high risk category so I asked if he was scared. "I get emotional, but not for me," he replied. "People aren't prepared."

Aurelio was right.

Few could have been prepared for what the next two months would hold.

There was no frame of reference to predict the events of this pandemic.

Italy became a country of unwelcome firsts.



The first to show its hospitals overrun with the sick.

The first to call in the army to transport the dead.

The first to launch a criminal investigation into care home deaths.

What we were seeing and hearing was shocking.

In exactly 10 weeks Italy lost more than 28,000 of its citizens to COVID-19. That doesn't include most of those who have died in residential homes.

More than 180 doctors and nurses have died from coronavirus - another two have taken their own lives.

The head of infectious diseases at Spedali Civili Hospital in Brescia, Lombardy, described the trauma of working with the fear of dying. More than 300 of his colleagues have tested positive for the virus.

"We were asking each other who will be the next and that, of course, is psychologically demanding. Also because, apart from being colleagues, we are friends.

"We are also isolated, each of us at home, because we fear also to maybe transfer the contagion to our beloved ones.

"So if you put all that together, the workload, the fatigue, the tiredness, that is fairly psychologically demanding."

In the early weeks of Italy's outbreak there was a sense of hope and optimism.

Italians gathered in their windows and balconies to sing together and say "Andrà tutto bene" - everything will be alright.

But as the number of dying continued to escalate, hope faded.

The singing stopped, shutters stayed closed.

The lockdown was tightened further. Even exercise was restricted to the close vicinity of where you lived. The number of police checkpoints seemed to increase. We saw fewer and fewer people outside.

Almost everyone we spoke to was dealing with their own personal struggle.

"For a single old man staying at home alone it's difficult," said a pensioner sitting alone in one of Rome's squares. "I have no relations. It's sad. But you know, better than being infected."

Even essential workers, considered lucky, were barely coping.

Stefano Capelli's taxi earnings had dropped to €30 (£26) a day. I asked how long he could last financially. "Maybe one month. Maybe," he replied.

If his predictions were correct, he will have run out of money around three weeks ago.

The lockdown, border closures, and travel restrictions have hurt Italy's economy. Despite pressure to lift measures sooner in the south of the country, where the infection is lower but poverty is far higher, the government appears to be taking no risks.

Italians realise that normality as they knew it will not resume anytime soon. This is all the more apparent when you see the detailed conditions being set by the government for lifting measures.

The price of facemasks has been fixed too but there's ongoing debate about whether to make them mandatory outside. It is already compulsory to wear them on public transport, in shops, and in work places.

Italy has seen how the virus spreads at frightening speed and the slow painful fight needed to bring it under control.

The characteristic warmth of Italians has been replaced by an obsession with personal space. Even the physical act of wearing a mask seems to have silenced people's spirits.

This would have seemed inconceivable a couple of months ago.

But it's hard to imagine life as before.

The national trauma of the first outbreak perhaps still too raw.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
×