Hospitality in Italy open again: ‘We couldn’t wait!’
In large parts of Italy, everything seems normal again, as hospitality venues and cultural institutions have reopened. This means Italians no longer have to settle for a coffee to go, but can simply drink a cappuccino in a little bar to start the day. The terraces are immediately packed.
RTL Nieuws shows how happy Italians are. ‘We couldn’t wait. The first morning when I can drink a cappuccino with my father, outside,’ says a cheerful Italian woman. Images of a packed city centre, a terrace with not a single free spot left and people happily drinking wine together and eating pasta: it would make you jealous! Almost 300,000 hospitality businesses – just over 80 percent of the total – reopened yesterday.
Optimism
The measures have been relaxed to support the economy, not because the coronavirus figures in Italy give cause for optimism. The World Health Organization warns that the easing actually comes too early. Hospitality businesses already opened their doors once in January, as a form of protest. Not because they did not see the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic, a spokesperson said at the time, but because they could no longer pay the bills if they were unable to receive guests for any longer.
Curfew
The relaxed measures do not apply to the entire country: Sicily, Sardinia, Puglia, Alto Adige and Umbria remain under orange code, so everything there remains closed. In the rest of the country, hospitality venues must close at 6:00 p.m., and a curfew applies from 8:00 p.m.
And here? There is a new press conference tonight. Reportedly, many existing measures will remain in force for the rest of the month, including the closure of hospitality venues. This measure may even be extended until the beginning of March…
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Source: RTL Nieuws, DeMorgen
