Cartoon by Bob Moran

Italians Find ‘a Moment of Joy in This Moment of Anxiety’

The New York Times: It started with the national anthem. Then came the piano chords, trumpet blasts, violin serenades and even the clanging of pots and pans — all of it spilling from people’s homes, out of windows and from balconies, and rippling across rooftops.

Finally, on Saturday afternoon, a nationwide round of applause broke out for the doctors on the medical front lines fighting the spread of Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak.

“It was from our hearts, to say thanks and show that we can get past this,” said Emma Santachiara, 73, who came out onto the terrace of her apartment in the Monteverde section of Rome to clap with her granddaughters.

Italians remain essentially under house arrest as the nation, the European front in the global fight against the coronavirus, has ordered extraordinary restrictions on their movement to prevent contagions.

As of Saturday, the virus had infected more than 21,000  Italians and left more than 1,400 dead, according to national officials — the worst toll reported anywhere outside of China. Italy has closed all of its schools, bars and restaurants, and restricted movement for anything other than work, health or the procurement of essentials.

But the cacophony erupting over the streets, from people stuck in their homes, reflects the spirit, resilience and humor of a nation facing its worst national emergency since the Second World War.

Like any national crisis, the virus has exposed the flaws of those countries it has struck the hardest, whether it be the reflex for secrecy in China, the downplaying of the crisis in Iran or the initial confusion and fragmentation in the Italian response.

But to the extent that this is a virus that tries people’s souls, it has also demonstrated the strengths of those national characters.

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In China, patriotic truck drivers risked infection to bring desperately needed food to the people of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. In Iran, videos show doctors in full scrubs and masks dancing to keep spirits up.

And in Italy, the gestures of gratitude and music ring out above the country’s vacated streets, while social media feeds fill with encouraging, sentimental and humorous web videos.

On Friday evening, at the exact hour that health officials normally update the daily numbers of the country’s increasing infected and dead, Italians from the southern islands to the Alps sang the national anthem and played instruments.

Ms. Santachiara, in Rome, was among them.

“It’s not like we’re maestros,” she said, but “it’s a moment of joy in this moment of anxiety.”

On the web, one man showed off his new invention, a vest of horizontal cardboard spokes that maintained a one-meter distance from anyone around him.

“Cool,” said the man, looking like the center of a propeller. “I’m going to work.”

Other irreverent posts showed a parrot smashing its beak into a mirror above a “fourth day of quarantine” caption and a father extolling how happy he was to be home, as his bickering children drowned out his voice. In another, a teenager spritzed on some perfume for a walk to the kitchen.

But while Italians sought to lift the national mood, there was no doubt it was still a heavy one.

Images of nurses collapsed from exhaustion or their faces bruised from tightly sealed masks have also spread across the web in recent days. On Saturday, one image circulating widely showed a nurse cradling the Italian peninsula in her arms.

Parents posted pictures of unicorns and rainbows drawn by young children with the hashtag “It will all be OK.”

The duress also seemed to stir patriotism in a country that has a deep suspicion of nationalism.

The Italian media reported a spike in sales of the Italian flag. The national anthem, usually limited to the start of soccer matches, reverberated off palazzo walls at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Like many anthems, it is a martial call to arms and sacrifice, in this case against the Austrian empire, and for unity after being for centuries “downtrodden and derided, Because we are not one people.”

“Let us join in cohort,

We are ready to die!

We are ready to die!

Italy has called!”

“We’re Italians, and being vocal is part of our culture,” said Giorgio Albertini, 51, an archaeology professor who clapped from his apartment balcony in the university district of Milan, calling it a way “to feel a community, and to participate of the collective grief.”

On Friday, he sang “Oh Mia Bella Madunina,” a traditional Milanese song about city pride, while his 9-year-old son accompanied him at the violin.

At noon in Verona on Saturday, the peal of church bells gave way to the clapping of hands as Cristina Del Fabbro, 53, stood on her balcony applauding with her daughter Elisa, 21.

“We want to thank doctors and nurses,” she said. “They can’t stay safe at home as we do, they are tired and worried but they stay there, for those who get sick and need them.”

A neighbor who had tied an Italian flag to her fifth-floor balcony shouted, “We have the best health care system in the world.” >>>