by In Trieste
These past few months have been tough, scary, and at times shattering. The world was unprepared for the global pandemic and its devastating aftermath. Neither global economies nor small businesses knew what to expect.
Since May 4th the lockdown restrictions have been eased by the central government and small businesses like caffès were allowed to offer take-away service.
We wandered to a local bar in San Vito neighborhood located on the crossings of Via Combi and Via Collauti to get our first capo in months, albeit in a paper cup, and to ask Roberta, the daughter of the owner of the bar opened in 1961, to answer some of our questions.
How have these past few months been?
Roberta: Very difficult. All of a sudden we found ourselves without a euro in our cash register. Overnight our lives had changed. It was scary because we have kids to take care of.
How do you see your future?
Roberta: I’m worried about the economic repercussions more than the virus itself. Two months of closure for a business like ours is a lot. We’ll see how it goes and in the worst case scenario we will be closed by Christmas.
When did you reopen?
Roberta: We started offering take away service on May 4th. Many of our regular customers returned within a day.
What was the best part about being open?
Roberta: You think you are just one of many, but then you hear people say “Hey, did you know Bar Neri is open again?”. And you see people come in and tell you how much they’ve missed our bar and it’s community atmosphere. You see how happy they are and it makes you happy, too.
