Nicholas Farrell Nicholas Farrell

Life under lockdown: Italy is being consumed by panic

We are fighting a dangerous and invisible enemy

issue 14 March 2020
Ravenna

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.

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