Anghiari si racconta

We kept the shop open throughout the whole period because it was classified as an essential activity. Life changed, totally, totally. There was no one around, everything was very sad, solitary, there were no social interactions. We worked with people who came to buy the merchandise to take back home. For more or less 2 months, everything was very, very restricted, those were very, very tough months, on a work and human level. We can’t complain because other businesses closed for the whole period. On a work/financial level, for us, it wasn’t a dramatic situation, but on a human level it was very dramatic.

We are used to having contact with the public, with people, we talk, interact with people. We felt very sad. Coming to work for us is a (bella) beautiful thing because we interact, we chat not only about work … we felt so sad. Clients arrived, took the merchandise, grazie, arrivederci and left. There were no conversations, absolutely, people were fearful, quite rightly.

There were rules, only 3 people could be inside our shop, at a distance of 2-3 metres; we had a crowd waiting outside, they entered through one door and used the other to exit. It was totally, totally different. A tragic change on a human level that immediately hurt people. Then, when summer arrived, although we still kept the masks on, the rules were relaxed a bit, and more people entered in the shop, they stayed longer.

Well, those 2 months from the beginning of March till May – it was very tough. We had to wear masks and gloves, make people respect the rules, there were checks from Carabinieri, inside and in the streets, quite rightly. When clients didn’t wear a mask, we couldn’t let them in, which, for us was very difficult; even a friend, we couldn’t let them inside, it was our responsibility, very difficult. We tried as much as possible to interact with people in that minute they were inside, but we couldn’t really do much because of all those waiting outside, we couldn’t waste too much time chatting. There was a lot of fear.

In Anghiari, the situation wasn’t too bad because the population density is smaller than in cities. And, we have open spaces where we can go out without meeting anyone. With regards to the shop, we didn’t have big problems with transport, but with the quantities. There was a shortage of flour, oil, and, you could only buy 2 bottles of disinfectants – in 10 minutes it was gone! Impossible to find yeast for pizza, everybody wanted to make pizza at home. The baker, the butcher, the newsagent were open.

Life in the streets, piazzas? There wasn’t any life, all empty, silence from morning till evening, brutto bruttissimo; in the evenings, after dinner, you opened the window, silence, emptiness. Normally silence is a beautiful thing, but no, it wasn’t beautiful (bello), not beautiful at all, a very horrible silence, molto, molto brutto.

We consider ourselves lucky, even though all of us, except me, got Covid. It was very strange, though. I didn’t see my nephews and my brother-in law for 2 months. Luckily, I work with my family, so I saw mum and dad – some of my friends didn’t see their family for 3-4 months. My sister had to stay at home with her kids because schools were closed, so she didn’t come to work. We couldn’t travel to another region, to Umbria for example, even if it is 10 minutes away. My partner lives with me, and she had an authorisation to go to Città di Castello to work because she works for an insurance company, so she continued normally.

Now it seems finished, everything, dai! (come on!), let’s hope.