AFP
People enjoy lunchtime at a bistro’s terrace in the Duomo Square yesterday in central Milan.
Bars, restaurants, cinemas and concert halls were reopening across Italy on Monday in a boost for coronavirus-hit businesses.
After months of stop-start restrictions imposed to manage second and third waves of COVID-19, Italy hopes this latest easing will mark the start of something like a normal summer.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi has admitted to taking a “calculated risk” with the reopenings, as infection rates and intensive care admissions have fallen but COVID-19 deaths still mount by hundreds every day and now total more than 119,000.
Three-quarters of regions yesterday dropped to the lower-risk “yellow” category, with bars and restaurants permitted to restart table service outside — including, for the first time in six months, in the evening, although a 10pm curfew remains in place.
“Finally!” said Daniele Vespa, the 26-year-old head waiter at Baccano, a restaurant near Rome’s Trevi Fountain, as he made preparations for the return of customers.
“Hopefully ... we can soon reopen inside as well,” he said, adding: “It’s the start of a return to normality.”
Cinemas, theaters and concert halls can also open at 50 percent capacity, followed by the staggered opening of swimming pools, gyms, sporting events and theme parks by July 1.
In Milan, the Beltrade cinema claimed the title of being the first to reopen after six months of inaction with a special 6am screening of “Caro Diario,” a classic Italian film from the 1990s. The show was sold out, despite people having to the early screening.
“I went with my husband, and it was great to be back together in a cinema and do this crazy thing,” said Francesca Pierangeli, one of the 82 people to get a seat.
Draghi had been under intense pressure to ease restrictions, including from far-right leader Matteo Salvini and increasingly vocal anti-lockdown street protests, as Italy battles its deepest recession since World War II.
The vaccination program is gaining pace with 17.75 million jabs administered so far and 5.2 million people fully vaccinated in a population of around 60 million.
But experts doubt this could be enough to stave off a new health crisis.
“Clearly if the gradual reopening is interpreted as a ‘free-for-all,’ a new surge in infections risks compromising the summer season,” warned Nino Cartabellotta, head of the GIMBE Foundation health think tank.
Already at the weekend, throngs of people took advantage of the warm weather and packed the streets of central Rome and other cities, many not wearing masks.