PLACES

Italo Calvino wrote that cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears.

During the weeks of the lockdown our cities, the places familiar to us, became exactly this: a receptacle of anxious desires – the hope that the pandemic would be over quickly, the yearning to hold our loved ones and to get back to our daily routines – and of fears, some justified, others irrational.

read the article by Pierangelo Sapegno

And now that we look at them again in these images, with their deserted squares, trafficless streets, closed shutters, and the long morning shadows cast by monuments with no passers-by to break up the solidity, we realise that our cities were almost dreamlike: unreal, abstract, eerie.

Empty just as, at least once in their lives, their inhabitants hoped they might become, now knowing we never want to see them like that again. Because after all (to quote Calvino again) every city takes its form from the desert beyond it.

A screening room at the Cinema Centrale in Turin.

Cinecittà World, a cinema-inspired theme park in Castel Romano, near Rome, was closed for lockdown. In 2020 theme parks were only open between June and October. Entertainment was one of the sectors most affected by the restrictive measures designed to contain the pandemic.

Graves at the Monumental Cemetery of Bergamo where many Covid-19 victims are buried.

Milan, the Natural History Museum.

Venice, the Canal Grande.

The parking lot of a shopping mall in Rome in December 2020.

The Vatican Museums the day before the new closure set for November 4, 2020 to prevent the spread of the second Covid-19 wave.

Rome, Appio Latino district, November 19, 2020. After the summer reopening, the second wave of Covid-19 infections has led to a new restrictive measure, the curfew. From 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., people can only leave their homes for "proven business needs or health reasons." City streets empty out, while life goes on inside homes in this new semi-lockdown.

The Teatro Regio (Regio Theatre) in Turin.

A view of Lower Bergamo from the upper city walls. The Lombard city had the highest number of Covid-19 casualties per capita.

Cinecittà World, a cinema-inspired theme park in Castel Romano, near Rome, was closed for lockdown. In 2020 theme parks were only open between June and October. Entertainment was one of the sectors most affected by the restrictive measures designed to contain the pandemic.

Bergamo, Winter Garden Hotel: a four-star hotel that became a hospital for Covid-19 patients.

Rome, the Colosseum.

Milan, the amusement park at the Sempione park.

A performance by classical dancer Corinne De Bock with "Look-down" by the artist Jago. The statue, which is positioned in downtown Naples, is designed to raise awareness of the plight of the most fragile, particularly the homeless. According to the dancer, the most fragile include artists, who were severely penalized by the restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

In December 2020, a man returns to his car with his daughters after shopping at a pet store inside a mall in Rome.

Milan, council housing in the Quarto Oggiaro neighbourhood, on the northwest outskirts of the city.

Jesolo (near Venice), pedalos parked on dry land.

Venice, Railway Station Square.

A technician prepares the tricolour installation projected on the silos of Mulino Ferro (a food producer) in Campobasso, Molise, ten days after the start of the national lockdown.

The McDonald's at the largest shopping mall in Taranto.

Rome, the Esquilino neighbourhood.

Caorle (near Venice), the beach after having been left unmaintained for three months.

Gerola Alta (near Sondrio).

Milano, the Venice motorway leading to Bergamo.

Milan, the Mondadori bookshop in Duomo square.

The alleyways in Alberobello, Puglia.

Rome. The Giardinetti train, which is empty during lockdown.

The Duomo in Milan, during the first days of national lockdown.

Drones have been extensively used in Italy during the lockdown in order to monitor people and dissuade them from gathering. Many of these drones belong to civilians who are collaborating with the forces of law and order.