LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE My husband and I have been going about life under quarantine much as we would under normal circumstances. We spend part of each day outdoors, working in our gardens, preparing for spring and summer. We brought our…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 17 March I realized yesterday that going to the supermarket makes me feel anxious. Going indoors almost anywhere except home makes my heart beat faster, my breath go tight and shallow. So I decide I won’t go…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 16 March By now many of you will have seen online video of Italians singing on their balconies; playing violins, guitars, accordions, electric pianos; banging pans; anything to express their solidarity, defiance and hope and determination to…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 12 March 2020 I’m wondering whether to go to my regular massage appointment this afternoon, whether to cancel having my teeth cleaned tomorrow morning. I can easily print the proper permit to show the carabinieri when I…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE Suddenly we’re all in la zona rossa—the red zone—together. The Italian government has taken the extraordinary measure of restricting movement of people throughout the country. Permits to travel between towns are available online, from law enforcement, and (so…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE Tuesday was Tutti i Santi, All Saints’ Day. Schools, shops, and offices close for this annual day of solemn remembrance, families visit the graves of their forebears to leave fresh flowers, florists do big business in chrysanthemums,…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE Siamo in Italia! It means We are in Italy!, and people here often say this to us when they cannot explain some bureaucratic tangle or incomprehensible administrative regulation. With a characteristic gesture that is half-shrug, half-surrender, they let…
