Italian here, north-west. Media are really exaggerating with the situation with daily life and routine, we are allowed to take a walk and go to bars or restaurants if there is one meter of distance between people.<p>The real problem is in the hospitals, and for some enterprises who will really have a loss in these weeks (everything about tourism, for example).
One of the biggest downsides is that people are not allowed to visit relatives or families in other cities/villages, even if a few kilometers away.<p>We've been promised discounts, taxes, even free subscriptions for ebooks... this lockdown is not so bad, the important is that people really understand why it has been implemented (people here in Italy tend to overreact for <i>every</i> news - it's always apocalyptic).
A lockdown is obviously not an enjoyable thing, but it is necessary to flatten the curve [^1] and it's downsides are less severe then it's benefits if done correctly.<p>Keep this in mind as the situation continues to evolve. Stock things in your house which bring you joy (good food, games, good books) and do your best to spread confidence to others around you. If you have enough space to get in some exercise, even if it's just pushups and situps, do so. If you are working from home, do your best to have a clearly defined time for your work and separate your working space from your leisure space as much as practical. If you've been thinking about writing a book or starting a new blog, now is a good time to do so.<p>It may not be enjoyable but it is necessary. Make the best use of this time you can.<p>[^1]: <a href="https://www.flattenthecurve.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.flattenthecurve.com/</a>
As a side note, maybe the single restaurant manager interviewed does normally that, but it is highly unusual that a restaurant manager hugs and/or kisses (or even shakes hands) with a customer of the restaurant.<p>There is this sort of folklore about Italy that everyone kisses and hugs everyone else.<p>This is simply not accurate.<p>If you are introduced to someone (a stranger), it is normal courtesy to shake hands with him/her (and that's it, no hugs, no kisses), as well, unless the other person is an old friend the normal shaking of hands is the normal means of greeting.<p>It is extremely rare that you are touched (again let alone hugged or kissed) as a customer when you enter any shop or similar.
Another Italian here. The situation is far from dramatic. Yes, being forced at home unless necessary is an inconvenience, but damn worth the risk of catching the virus or worse infecting others. We can work from home, and this for many of us is a first and indeed something we can leverage when things go back to normal. We can still go to the doctor, or grocery shopping, bars and restaurants are still open.
This kind of reporting seems counterproductive. A more helpful headline would be something like, “In locked down Italy, life is mostly normal.” The body of the article is OK, but the tone seems intentionally negative when the same facts could easily have been presented hopefully.<p>One of my biggest concerns is that places in the United States, or other countries, will adopt aggressive social distancing policies early, while the number of cases is low, and then the backlash against those policies will be that “this is hell, and the virus isn’t even affecting that many people.” That can lead to pressure to drop the policies prematurely when the virus is nowhere near contained yet.<p>This is a great opportunity for responsible journalism to strike a tone of optimistic “we are all in this together, it is very serious, but if we all do the right thing we should be OK.” Fear mongering on the one hand, or dismissal and backlash on the other, are both extremely harmful — But good for Clickbait and selling ads. We really need the media to resist that during this emergency.