Duomo
“Even in the most beautiful music there are some silences,
which are there so we can witness the importance of silence”
– Andrea Bocelli
As our train approached Bergamo, the landscape suddenly became more urban. More factories. More apartment blocks.
And I remembered.
I was instantly transported back to last year, to international news reports from Bergamo and other parts of Lombardy, the epicentre of the Coronavirus in Italy.
We remembered watching news footage during Italy’s only lockdown, from March to May of 2020. People were self isolating at their apartments but uniting on their balconies in song, communities coming together.
And there was another very special performance, from a brilliant, accomplished artist. On that Easter Sunday, April 12th 2020, we watched a televised event, Andrea Boccelli singing live from Duomo di Milano. It was an epic performance, at an epic place.
We’ve admired Bocelli for some time. We had been to listen to this incredible Opera Tenor at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island, eight or nine years before. But this performance was very different. This was the first of so many around the world, with no audience in attendance.
There were images from our world’s silent cities. In the opening shots of the concert, drone footage showed us the deserted streets of Milan, Bergamo and Brescia. Andrea Bocelli’s Music For Hope performance was compelling; engaging, beautiful and incredibly sad, all at the same time.
His voice reached a global audience. In that performance there was so much emotion. And in those silences there was so much to ponder. All around the world, the virus had been taking hold, with devastating results. What was happening was unimaginable. Everyone, everywhere was hoping for better times.
He stood alone. He performed alone.
And so almost 18 months later, we followed in Bocelli’s footsteps. We too stood near the doors of the imposing Duomo di Milano.
So what’s changed?
Looking around by the Duomo, on this September day, Milan was full of people, shopping, sharing lunch and going to work.
In Italy people are still wearing masks. It’s mandatory indoors. The ‘Green Pass’ (EU vaccine passport) has impacted on many ordinary parts of life. It’s a requirement to show the pass boarding a train or coach, or when entering a restaurant or bar.
And Italy’s Council of Ministers made the country’s Covid-19 health certificate obligatory for all employees in both the public and private sectors, an effort to boost vaccination rates and keep infection rates down. The new decree states that workers who fail to show a green pass could be fined or suspended without pay.
Now many people are fully vaccinated against Coronavirus and are going on with with their lives, with caution. At the time of writing, there were 2,985 new cases of Coronavirus in one day *
I’m reminded of ‘Andra tutto bene’ (all will be well), the home made signs of hope on display everywhere in Italy at the time.
People were holding on to hope. We were right to do so. All is well, at least for now.
Our world’s cities are no longer silent.
What’s changed where you are, during Coronavirus times?
© Maggie M / Mother City Time
* https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/