At the moment, being here in Cortona is a combination of strange, sad and confusing. Because restaurants and bars can’t remain open after 6pm, there’s no place to go to dinner and some people aren’t opening for lunch because there aren’t enough pranzo (lunch)-goers to make it worthwhile. The streets are nearly empty much of the time.
But… we were out in Piazza della Repubblica this evening, sitting on a bench in front of Molesini’s grocery and noted that as 5:30 or so approached, here came the Cortonese. Not many of them, perhaps 1/8 of the normal number, but they were there. You can tell ‘em they’ve gotta stay inside, but you can’t make ‘em miss the passeggiata. They were, by and large, staying the proscribed “un metro” (one meter) apart from one another, however. This is a good thing because they were under the watchful eye of the Carabinieri – the state police – who are monitoring the situation to make sure the rules are being followed.
On a positive note, we saw that Snoopy’s – one of several gelato shops in town – opened so we had our first Cortona gelato of the season. Local businesses are posting things with this hashtag: #andràtuttobene – it will all be fine. Hope.
There are signs in every shop window that give the the number of people who can enter at one time and shopkeepers are enforcing those rules politely but firmly. The grocery has taped lines on the floor to help people keep their distance from one another.
But, we are managing – it’s made easier by virtue of the weather starting to truly warm and spring buds starting to appear. And… (though perhaps this is just our personal construct) we think that we’re getting a little “street cred” from the local folks by sticking it out here rather than hightailing it back to the states.