by In Trieste
As coronavirus is taking over the world and slowly becoming a global catastrophe it still has some local peculiarities. Some Triestini are taking things less seriously than they should so we have 100 military soldiers sent to control our streets these day. But being a border town perhaps they are here to make sure our borders our safe?
These past few days the temperatures hit record highs of 18 C and it felt like spring has erupted in Trieste beckoning every single one of us to come out and rejoice. People went out to parks, Barcola and piazzas selfishly, but perhaps only half-comprehendingly, as they’d been told by the Prime Minister Conte and Governor Fedriga to stay home, except “to do essential shopping or to do a little bit of exercise.” Monday, March 11th the government decided to put the Italian population under confinement, in view of the crowds that had materialized in such beauty spots as Barcola, Sistiana and Ciclabile (up in San Giacomo neighborhood), the beloved place of all sport-addicted.
Meanwhile, Shengen has been temporarily suspended as most countries closed their borders and Italian people are now subject to strict confinement, enforced with fines and if found wandering around without purpose, imprisonment. Of course Trieste has always been a different story. Here the glory of Italy has been deemed by the flags of Austrian-Hungarian empire, and later American and UK’s flare. Many older generation Triestini are still wandering down the streets of Trieste, thinking tanto che importa (“who cares really”). As for the younger generation, there are mostly insatiable dog-walkers and runners on the streets as for the moment, a quick, solo jog is still permissible in Trieste, but the implication of the last PM’s statement was that even that won’t be if Italians don’t immediately get it together and hunker down.
One will now need to reproduce and sign an attestation in order to leave the house to buy groceries, go to pharmacy or work. Those who don’t have a printer can copy the attestation by hand, or download it, fill it out on Adobe, and e-mail it to themselves. Until now, the government had been sending mixed messages, which had led to disordered behavior (for example, swimming in Barcola). Meanwhile statements from Comune di Trieste advised against hand-shaking, without mentioning the germ-spreading capacity of saying hello with a bacio on both cheeks.
The schools and universities are still closed until April 3d but we are all expecting the date to be extended until further notice. On Tuesday, March 12th, restaurants, cafés, and all other non-essential commerce bit the dust. Now all supermarkets and pharmacies are the mecca of most Triestini (as Barcola used to be) who are taking the long way to get there.
Of course, you’d think e-commerce is profiting these days but most locals would rather go downtown and buy whatever thing they think is necessary rather than spend time staring at their screens. After all, Italy is a high-contact society.
So what’s it like being on a lockdown in Trieste? Unpleasant and necessary, as most of the world will soon find out.
