Bracing for the fourth wave
Plus, cleaning-up Rome and a new streaming service
Yesterday evening, as you may have seen, the Italian government tightened restrictions on unvaccinated people even further in order to tackle a relatively modest but nevertheless concerning rise in Covid-19 cases. Italy has both one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe (84% of over 12’s) and some of the most stringent containment measures. Nevertheless, as Europe faces a fourth wave of infections, curbs on social gathering are set to increase even further. As things stand, anyone can access cinemas, restaurants, pubs, museums and so on by presenting a ‘green pass’, which indicates proof of vaccination, antibody resistance or a negative test. From 6 December, however, the government will only allow entry to crowded spaces upon presentation of a ‘super green pass’ which only vaccinated individuals are eligible to possess. Parallel to this, Draghi has also banned No Vax and No Green Pass protests in city centres, made vaccination mandatory among police and teachers, and will be extending green pass checks to local public transport like trams and buses. Italy has, in effect, made Covid-19 vaccination compulsory, or the closest thing to it. And while this may indeed raise valid questions about bodily autonomy and the limits of state power, those questions are, I think, at this stage better addressed to the democratic process as a whole rather being hyper-focused on the specific case of the pandemic itself (against which we all, clearly, must still remain vigilant).
Rome’s new centre-left mayor Roberto Gualtieri is facing an uphill struggle to deliver on his promise to “clean up the city by Christmas.” As anyone who’s spent much time there will know, the garbage crisis is indeed out of control. From the city centre to the suburbs, the bins are frequently overflowing. In some areas rubbish can sit around for weeks on end. And I’m not just talking about a few stray bags here and there. It’s not uncommon to find defunct fridges, TVs, industrial goods and so on fly-tipped along the roads. Gualtieri seems serious about tackling this. In fact he’s pledged 40 million euros of the municipal budget to resolve the issue. This will be spent, among other things, on pest control, hiring extra staff, and tackling crime. As part of this process, much to the amusement of some Italian journalists, he also seems to be allocating a bonus to trash workers “just for showing up to work.” The exact sum is a relatively modest 360 euros, and it will be given to all employees of AMA who take no sick leave between now and the 6 January. Wanted in Rome has more details on Gualtieri’s race against time.
Regular readers may remember a story I flagged-up here a few weeks ago about Nicolas Gentile, the so-called ‘Hobbit of Abruzzo’, who is building a mock-up version of a Tolkeinian shire in the midst of the Italian countryside not far from Chieti. Well, ever since then more and more international media from the U.S. to China have been publishing articles about the experiment. Now VICE magazine has got on board and they’ve even produced a short documentary as part of their ‘Local Legends’ series. The film is a fun look at Gentile’s life, his ambitions, his eccentricities and his day job as a pastry chef, and it also has some great footage from his crowdfunding ‘fellowship’ campaign to Vesuvius; including being ambushed by orcs (see 4:40). Check it out at the above link, or on YouTube where the comment section – for once – is filled, almost universally, with positive vibes.
Arts and culture: overcoming the pandemic
Florence’s Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella is celebrating its 800th anniversary this winter. This old perfume shop, founded in 1221, is one of the most well-regarded Tuscan boutiques by those in-the-know about such things. The Officina is famous for its herbaceous and never-cloying bottled fragrances, but they also sell soaps, room diffusers, bath salts and even ceramic and leather ornaments. Personally, I’m most interested in the building itself, which is absolutely stunning, as well as the business’s history within the Florentine economy. Christobel Kent has covered just these aspects in a new piece for The Financial Times which, among other things, offers a series of tit-bits of knowledge about the shop’s role during pandemics. Their rose water solutions, for example, were used seven hundred years ago to fight the Black Death, and more recently they’ve been providing alcoholic solutions to serve as sanitiser in the local hospitals. To find out more, and for other such nuggets, check out the full article here.
MiC has finally launched its new streaming platform to help support cultural institutions that have struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic. ITsART, which has been described as a kind of “Netflix for Italian culture” currently has 1,275 titles split into three categories: stage-shows, museums and film. Collaborators include La Scala, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma as well as Fondazione Prada and the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation. Registration is free, and many of the videos uploaded so far are available to watch immediately (with ads). There are, however, paid options to remove such intrusions as well as on-demand and live shows. Honestly, I’m not 100% sure that the business model is quite there. People are so oversubscribed with streaming services as it is, and there’s clearly a risk that MiC spends stacks of cash to set this thing up and that nobody actually uses it. Still, I hope that’s not the case, and with that in mind I for one plan to give Riccardo Muti's (free) Dante concert a spin over the weekend and encourage all readers here to at least cast an eye over their catalogue.
Recipe of the week: Cavolo strascicato
More rustic, veg-heavy goodness. This time from Livorno. Cavolo strascicato is basically slow cooked cabbage, braised for an hour or so with plenty of garlic, chili and a bit of sausage. This isn’t a side dish. It’s something to serve on its own with plenty of bread as a midweek dinner; the kind of thing that’s good to just leave bubbling away while finishing off some work (an all too common occurrence for me this time of year). You could always use pancetta or guanciale, by the way, or, if you’re vegetarian, some porcini mushrooms with a mix of fresh ones. On this occasion, though, I reckon it’s the Tuscan sausage that makes all the difference. I like the version by Juls Scarpaleggia which she adapted from a local chef at Livorno’s Piazza Cavallotti market. It’s available for free on her blog here so enjoy!
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About Me
My name is Jamie Mackay (@JacMackay) and I’m an author, editor and translator based in Florence. I’ve been writing about Italy for a decade for international media including The Guardian, The Economist, Frieze, and Art Review. I launched ‘The Week in Italy’ to share a more direct and regular overview of the debates and dilemmas, innovations and crises that sometimes pass under the radar of our overcrowded news feeds.
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