Why the Fate of Milan Will Be the Fate of Italy

In locked-down Milan, lives that always spilled joyously into the piazzas have moved almost entirely online, and texting has become the primary link to the outside world. It’s where silly coronavirus memes spread, like the one of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel fresco showing God giving Adam hand sanitizer. It’s the only way families can communicate with ailing loved ones sequestered in crowded hospital wards. And it’s how you learn of death’s relentless march: a neighbor, the grandfather of one of your kids’ schoolmates, a friend of a friend.

For almost a month, the 10 million people in Milan and the surrounding Lombardy region have been under forced quarantine, measures that have been extended nationwide and will likely continue for several more weeks. The place is deserted as anyone able to do so works from home with a laptop and AirPods, waiting for the 6 p.m. daily bulletin to glean any signs of hope in the mortality and infection statistics from the past 24 hours.