It's mid-March now. (Yes, I know, that without the Virus you'd never have got this!) About 7pm it is almost pitch dark. Out on the balcony cleaning out the cat litter tray (yes!) Anyway, not a job you'd want to linger over- regardless of whether you can see it clearly!
But linger on the balcony was something I felt compelled to do. Behind the apartment block opposite- oscured from view- but clearly audible there was a public announcement van blasting out a warning: 'Resta a Casa.'
Indeed this was a message we'd had heard often on tv and the internet. Now- out there in the dark- it took on a distinctly ominous tone. Gone was the reassuring voice of our PM Giuseppe Conte! Had he been deposed in a Corona Coup? Was it really a good time to be messing with cat litter?
Indeed it was not! Better to find out what was going on.Turning to an online National paper
'Edizione Caserta' of 13th March we are informed:
' Something has changed in these hours in Capua after the discovery of the first Coronavirus case.' (Like Hell it has! More later..) .......'The infected person is in quarantine and has declared that he has not had any contact with people from Capua.......
..Yesterday the agents checked over 50 people and reported two people to the AG for not respecting the Ministerial Directives'.......
Later on ' 'The Municipal Administration has meanwhile announced for tomorrow a Sanitation invervention throughout the city'.
What a relief! They're only telling us to get inside or we'll be blasted with disinfectant not dum- dums!
The Governor of Campania, Vincenzo de Luca, however, issued a more dire warning: 'Over all the region citizens are obliged to stay in their own homes..In one Chinese province a citizen disobeyed the quarantine and was shot. We do not have this therapeutic method.' When the bridge- dividing the two parts of Capua- was closed for safety checks, the enclosed photos were circulated on social media!
God preserve us all! as Samuel Pepys said in 1665 when facing the Grande Pesta of his age. The Great Plague was one of the worst disasters in world history. Samuel Pepys' diaries provide a fascinating account into how Londoners dealt with this tradegy.
In the summer of 1665 Londoners were dying from a terrifying disease in vast numbers. Although this disease was not unknown to them- like the Coronavirus is for us- a was much more deadly strain had taken the lives of 69,000, although the true figure was probably closer to 100,000- 15% of the population. As of today 18/03 Coronavirus has infected 31,506 citizens and has taken the lives of 2,053.Mercifully less than its Medieval counterpart.Thank God!
In 1665 nobody understood what caused the disease or how it spread. Bad air was blamed, as were witches, cats and dogs and above all, people's sinful behaviour. At least in 2020 we know that a virus is the cause although myths as to its methods of transmission prevail.
Although when we compare the protective clothing worn both then and now they look surprisingly similar:
In 1665 in London the wealthy began fleeing the city as the death rate gre in the early summer. Charles 11 and his courtiers left in July for Hampton Court and then Oxford. Court cases were moved from westminster to Oxford. Parliament was postponed and had to sit in October at Oxford. The Lord Mayor and the aldermen stayed behind to enforce the king's orders to try to prevent the disease spreading. Those who already had plague were locked in their houses and guarded by watchmen.
Parish officials provided food. Searchers looked for dead bodies and took them to plague pits at night for burial. All trade between London and other plague towns was stopped.The border with Scotland was closed and trade with other countries ceased. No fairs were held.
Here in Italy similar measures were imposed. In mid-February, a 38 year-old man in Codogno, a small town just outside Milan, became the first known person to be infected with the new coronavirus in Italy.
In mid-February, a 38-year-old man in Codogno, a small town just outside Milan, became the first known person to be infected with the new coronavirus in Italy. The reaction by the authorities was swift. The 50,000 population who live in Codogno and nearby towns were told to only leave their homes if absolutely necessary, and the area was sealed off from the rest of Italy. As it became clear where the Virus had spread other areas were sealed off and by Monday March 9th President Conte announced:
'All measures of the red zones are now extended to all the national territory'.
We were in lockdown.
Although Pepys was wealthy and could have fled the capital,. he chose to stay taking his own precautions. He rewrote his will, chewed tobacco that was widely believed to give protection from the pestilence and refused to wear a periwig, believing it could contain hair 'cut off the heads of people dead of the plague'.
We are also wealthy enough to leave but have no such choice. We, the well, are ' Locked up with the sick. Indeed even although there still seems to be only ONE confirmed case of Coronavirus in Capua (who is probably no longer contagious I may add!) is clearly still a frightening experience for some. I was waiting outside our local cleaning shop to go in several days ago; there being a one- person- plague policy in place. Eventually a lady emerged with a large bag of cleaning products. I stood aside to let her pass, keeping the one metre of distance as per government reccommendations. Taking no chances, however, she launched herself and her hound from the top of the entrance ramp.
The passage of time has similarly done nothing to change our morbid fascination.. Pepys checked the weekly mortaity bills and even visited the plague pits in Moorfields when the plague was at its peak; whilst we check for the latest stats on the internet and view the sick daily on our tvs.
Heartless we are certainly not! Pepys mourned the death of friends, reklatives, colleagues, his brewer his baker and his physician to the plague. As yet I've not lost any loved ones to Covid but was sad to hear of the death of the Chinese doctor who did the most to alert the authorities there to the danger.
A key difference would be the impact on our daily life. My last cappuncino being a distant memory. I envy Pepys' being able to continue to work at his navy office, celebrate his cousin's wedding and follow many of his interests: indoor and outdoor.
On the contrary, I can not go to work, choose a car , get the medical for my Italian licence, visit my friends- even walk outside without my self-cert. What's left? Not much except the thankless tasks like cleaning, assembling Ikea furniture and listening to yet another government health warning. For the moment, at least, I'm just killing time in Capua.
Who knows what the future will bring in 2020? For Pepys 1665 turned out to be suprisingly good; bringing much opportunity and wealth. As the plague died down he wrote in his final entry for the year:
'I have never lived so merrily (besides that I have never got so much) as I have done this plague-time!'
At the moment the words of a poor woman in London who caught Coronavirus in northern Italy resonate. She stated: 'I think the first thing I'm going to do is just go to a park and go for a walk.'
Who knows where that Spring walk will lead? Probably to a nice bar where I'll enjoy the long-forgotten cappuncino. Time to mull over my next project. It will definitely be something outdoors.
Something I can get my teeth into soon. Guess I've already killed enough time in Capua in 2020.
Postscript
1. The Origin: The Lockdown: One Month In Wuhan (23rd January 2020........)
2. The Present Situation in Northern Italy
March 18th 2020: Bergamot, Italy: No Intensive Care Beds Left
3526 new cases and 345 new deaths in Italy: Bergamo (Lombardy region) has run out of intensive care beds. Unions are demanding the closure of post offices after the deaths of 2 postal workers who were on their job until a few days ago
Rocciano largely consists of limestone houses, built on narrow alleys. Now you can only access the village from one road, Via Puglia, though I would advise any vehicle much larger than my mini! You can see the ruins of ancient buildings, alongside those of more modern construction, made of tuffa. Franco showed us the house where his grandfather was born and the olive mill and threshing floor where his family worked. In Rocciano we find a wide variety of fruits: Raspberries, amarene cherries, i lemons, apples, plums...alongside a plethora of olive and nut trees. 
