By Rebecca Gnignati, originally published on 20/04/2020.
Common sense tells us to unite before danger. Seeing a threat coming makes humans set aside their differences and join forces for the challenge of the days ahead. It is rather an innate urge, one that has inspired a good deal of philosophers, such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, to praise the dynamism of human reaction. It is safe to say that those writers had never have to experience the harsh reality of Italian politics and society.
The Italian reaction to the coronavirus pandemic has been a source of mixed feelings. In mid-March, the country has seen a surge in the number of Covid-19 infections and it became the nation with the highest death toll on records: the new centre of the pandemic. According to the John Hopkins University’s Corona Virus Center, Italy is now the fifth most affected country by the disease, registering 219,070 confirmed cases and 30,560 deaths, making its death toll slightly lower than 7,2%. However, following the implementation of severe lockdown measures that have been in place since March 9th, the increase in daily cases has peaked on March 21st to then slowly but steadily decrease. As of April 20th, the Department of “Civic Protection” announced that the country has witnessed the first decrease in the absolute number of currently infected people, that are indeed twenty units less than yesterday. The feeling has been one of relief.
Despite the overall good handling of the crisis, many political figures are increasingly vocal about the economic damages of the lockdown. Surely, the wound will probably see Italy’s already suffering economy bleed more severely. In 2019, the country presented the second highest debt to GDP ratio in the Eurozone and its growth has been lagging for a decade. No one doubts that without the assistance of the European Union, the situation will not be bright. The pandemic is estimated to cost the State a tenth of its GDP. However, walking the Venetian “calli”, the city’s peculiarly narrow streets, one wonders if such loss is going to be the only blow the Republic will need to withstand. Indeed, what catches the eye, or better the ear, in Italy’s deserted streets, is silence of the ghostly figures that one glimpses at every corner. A silence, only broken by the residents’ shouting at you from their balconies.
It is not unusual for Italians to be greeted by a fervent public shaming on their way to duty. As years of rapidly changing, yet constantly rifting, political moods have shown, social cohesion is not Italy’s forte. Historically, the Italian peninsula has witnessed countless sovereigns and just as many invasions. When the Kingdom was proclaimed in 1861, it was the first time that the Italian peoples were under a common leadership since the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Many felt the new king, Vittorio Emanuele II di Savoia, as just the last of a long series of intruders. Social cohesion and social trust are the basis for democratic and economic success. the lack of those sentiments has been a recurring theme in social scientists’ explanations for the failing of democracy in the Italian southern regions and their social and economic gap to the North of the country. If citizens do share a con mon sense of belonging, the much needed post-coronavirus recovery will lack the ground to be built on. Instead of blaming passers-by for their of lack of freedom, Italians should forget once and for all their differences and give birth to a long overdue national spirit: for partnership will be the key to their resurgence.