COVID-19 lockdowns in Italy
On 9 March 2020, the government of Italy under Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte imposed a national lockdown or quarantine, restricting the movement of the population except for necessity, work, and health circumstances, in response to the growing pandemic of COVID-19 in the country.
Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the Italian government confirmed the country's first cases of the disease on 30 January 2020, when the virus was detected in two Chinese tourists visiting Italy.
[7] Following the first two deaths of people with the virus, several towns in Lombardy were placed on lockdown due to the large number of infected patients in the region.
[13] Early on Sunday 8 March 2020, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the expansion of the quarantine zone to cover much of northern Italy, affecting over sixteen million people, restricting travel from, to or within the affected areas, banning funerals and cultural events, and requiring people to keep at least one metre of distance from one another in public locations such as restaurants, churches and supermarkets.
[14] Conte later clarified in a press conference that the decree was not an "absolute ban", and that people would still be able to use trains and planes to and from the region for "proven work needs, emergencies, or health reasons".
[16] Restaurants and cafes were permitted to open, but operations were limited to between 6:00 and 18:00, while many other public locations such as gyms, nightclubs, museums and swimming pools were closed altogether.
[19] A draft of the decree had been leaked to the media late on Saturday night before it went into effect and was published by Corriere della Sera,[22] resulting in panic within the to-be-quarantined areas and prompting reactions from politicians in the region.
[32] The Italian authorities established sanctions for those who do not obey the orders, even those who, having symptoms of the virus, expose themselves in public places, being considered a threat of intentional contagion.
[34] This measure came after a rise in the number of cases and deaths in the previous days, and after multiple institutions – including trade unions, mayors, and regional presidents – asked for a generalised shutdown of the Italian production system.
[23] Prior to the quarantine's expansion, the Italian economy was already forecast to enter a recession due to the impact of the outbreak, with the tourism and luxury goods sector being particularly hard-hit by a reduction of travel.
[42] The impact of the wider quarantine is predicted to bring the European economy as a whole into a recession, and will disrupt supply chains to, for example, German car manufacturers like Volkswagen.
[46] Reuters reported on 20 March that Ministry of Economy and Finance was expecting a 3% GDP contraction in 2020, assuming the lockdown would be loosened by the end of April.
[48] The FTSE MIB, Italy's benchmark stock index, fell 11 percent on 9 March when the market reopened, dubbed "Black Monday".
EPizza SpA had earlier filed for bankruptcy in April 2022 following two years of declining revenue caused by COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and competition from local pizza chains and restaurants, which began using food deliver app services.
[50][51][52] During the lockdowns in early 2020, emissions of nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, fell drastically in northern Italy, most likely as a result of fewer diesel engines in operation.
[55] About 700,000 citizens were stopped and checked between 11 and 17 March alone, of which 43,000 were decided to have violated the quarantine, including at least two priests who were officiating funeral services (which were banned by the decree).
[57] On 3 April, Google published a series of mobility reports, using aggregated data to show the trend of how busy some categories of places were, and comparing them to a baseline evaluated in the months of January and February.
[61] President of Emilia-Romagna Stefano Bonaccini called the decree "confusing" and requested the central government take more time to develop a "coherent" solution.
In compliance with regulations on keeping one metre of distance between each other in public locations, bars and restaurants placed duct tape on floors for their customers to follow.
[73] The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom, praised Italy's decision to implement the lockdown, saying the Italian people and government were "making genuine sacrifices" with these "bold, courageous steps".
