Saluti da Cortona, part IV

Another update from Cortona, winter 2020-21. This shit is getting old.

As of November 2020, nearly all of Italy is back in red-zone lockdown. The government is clamping down hard to prevent festivities during the holidays (Christmas, New Year’s, and Easter primarily, but other, less important holidays are also suppressed in between), during which time it is feared the virus is most likely to spread.

Every day, I go to work and sign the document attesting that I do not have a fever or symptoms of COVID-19.

I am one of the lucky ones still working. In Camucia, the unemployed line up outside the CGIL office.

In Cortona, I’m used to deep winter being blissfully quiet, a time when locals recharge between hectic tourist seasons. This winter, the quiet is absolute, and distressing.

All parks are closed, so that the parents of playing children will not congregate. The way to close green spaces is to use temporary mobile fencing units and a lot of red and white striped tape.

(image from the Comune di Cortona Facebook page)

It’s so quiet, snails have taken up residence on the UGA Cortona studio trash cans…

… and my iPhone reminds me that I’ve got this monastery to myself.

Six months later, nothing has changed, except for the thickness of my stack of signatures.

But, as the gourd says, coraggio

… spring is coming…

… we still have our health, and the beauty of this place.