VENICE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN

(Italy 2020)

The global COVID-19 pandemic breaks out in the world and Italy becomes the most affected country. In March 2020 the Italian government decides the total closure of the country forcing people to stay at home. Cities are deserted and closed. One of the most symbolic and famous cities of Italy is abandoned of the thousands of tourists who usually visit the city every day and flock to its streets. It practically became a ghost town, where only the few residents leave the house for basic necessities. But Venice had already experienced a similar event.

In fact, the city of Venice in the summer of 1575 suffered a terrible plague epidemic which in two years caused 50,000 deaths, almost one Venetian out of three. On this occasion, as during previous epidemics, the government tried to handle the contagion_ especially with measures such as quarantine. The Feast of Redentore, the most important festival in Venice that is celebrated every year in July, recalls that event as once the quarantine was born from Venice.

Today Venice relives that historical period so far away. Today history repeats itself. COVID-19 has given a new dimension to Venice, a new vision that had never been seen since 1575.