With bars and restaurants closed everywhere we will have to resign ourselves until the end of April (unless the reassessment of the data along the way allows the government to ease the restrictions). With the measures already known (which divide Italy into red and orange zones, abolishing the yellow ones for the moment), the Italians will have to organize the week of Easter, already knowing that for the three holidays and days before holidays, therefore Saturday 3, Sunday 4 and on Monday 5th, the country will all be in lockdown.
So let’s see what, where and when it can be done. Starting with the holidays and participation in the rites of the Holy Week.
From Monday 29 March to Friday 2 April
Bars and restaurants
Everything closed, everywhere, except for take-away and home but also here with some limitations. From 18 to 22, in fact, only restaurants with kitchens and wine bars can remain open for take-away, while they will no longer be able to sell those licensed only for alcohol and beverages and many cities have prohibited with local ordinances even the simple sale of wine and alcoholic.
Relocations and second homes
For four months now, movements beyond regional borders have been prohibited except for reasons of work, health or urgency and for the return to one’s residence, domicile or home. This formula will make it possible to reach a second home, even in another region and even if it is red, as long as only one family unit goes there and that it is available (for long-term property or rent) from before 14 January. So, who decides to go and spend the second home with their family Easter holidays will be able to do it.
But watch out for regional ordinances. Some, with local measures that were not finally challenged by the government even if they regulate a matter that the Constitution attributes only to the government, have denied entry to non-residents. Are the’South Tyrol, the Val d’Aosta, the Tuscany, the Sardinia while the Sicily asks to arrive with a negative molecular swab or gives the possibility to carry it out in ports and airports. There Campania then it also forbids second homes to residents.
For the rest, in the orange zone, you can only move within your own Municipality without self-certification while in the red zone any type of movement is prohibited and you can leave the house with self-certification only for reasons of work, health or necessity.
Holidays in Italy and abroad
Also confirmed by the current decree (as it has always been) the possibility of crossing regional borders if you have to reach a port, a station, an airport for a permitted movement. And among these i foreign trips. The restrictions in force can only concern movements and freedoms in Italy, so if an Italian citizen wants to leave for a foreign country he can freely do so and in this case he will have to submit to the measures provided for by the country in which he is headed. Naturally, upon returning to Italy, he will have to observe the envisaged measures, and therefore have a negative molecular or antigenic tampon made in the previous 48 hours and undergo quarantine if he returns from countries that Italy considers to be at high risk. To find out the exact list and the related restrictions, consult the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In theory, even taking holidays in Italy is allowed but of course only in one’s own municipality and in the orange zone. The hotels have never been closed even if most of them have decided independently to do so since the blocking of mobility is in fact equivalent to the stop of the customers. In those that are still open, customers can have their meals, even at dinner, in the restaurant of the structure.
Visits to family and friends
In the orange zone it is allowed, once a day and directed to a single house, to visit friends and relatives. A maximum of two with children under 14 or disabled people and always respecting the curfew time, between 5 and 22. In the red zone, however, visits to friends and family are prohibited.
The rites of Holy Week
Last Easter Italy was in absolute lockdown and therefore participation in masses and rites of Holy Week was prohibited. This year, however, the churches will be open for masses with the restrictions already known and limited admissions. But neither the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday will take place nor will it be possible to participate in the Via Crucis on Good Friday that the faithful can only follow on TV or online.
The shops, barbers and hairdressers
In the orange area, shops and shopping centers are regularly open as well as all food shops, supermarkets and neighborhood businesses. If there is no shop in the municipality where you live, you can go to the nearest municipality to get what you need. Barbers, hairdressers and beauty centers are also open regularly.
Not so in the red area where barbershops, hairdressers and beauty centers and all shops are closed except food and shops that sell basic necessities, from bookstores to personal care products, from IT ones to laundries, from those of underwear to sportswear.
Sport
In the orange zone the sports clubs remain open for permitted activities, always individual and outdoors. So, for example, yes to tennis and windsurfing but no to team or contact sports, for which, however, individual training can be carried out. Always allowed, within one’s own municipality, to run, walk or ride a bicycle, always keeping a distance of two meters from another person. Instead, gyms and swimming pools closed.
Strong limitations instead in the red zone where the clubs must remain closed and motor activity (the simple walk) can only be carried out near your home. Jogging, running and cycling on the other hand, with the usual rules, are allowed within the municipality.
School
For the few days remaining from here to the Easter holidays, in the orange zone, they are open except in the individual municipalities where, due to the presence of some outbreaks, the mayors have taken restrictive measures. In the classroom the little ones, while for the high schools there is only 50 percent attendance teaching. Everything closed, however, including nests and nurseries, in the red zone.
From Saturday 3 to Monday 5 April
All of Italy, regardless of the epidemiological situation, will be in the red zone and therefore the major restrictions will also be extended to the regions that are in orange. But with some exceptions
Transfers and visits to relatives and friends
During these three days, trips are allowed anywhere, even in the red zone to visit family and friends (maximum two people with children under 14 and disabled people). You can move anywhere within the regional borders, only once a day within the limits set by the curfew.
An exemption provided by the government to allow family mini-reunions for Easter and Easter Monday lunches without prejudice to the government’s recommendation to keep a distance and a mask even at home in the presence of non-cohabiting people.
Foreign trips
Even in these three days the rules for travel outside the Italian borders remain valid with the limitations set by the countries of destination, on exit, and from Italy on return, which differ according to the country of origin.
The rites of Holy Week
The churches are open. The recommendation is to go to the one closest to home. The vigil on Saturday, as happened for Christmas, will be brought forward by a few hours to respect the curfew. On Easter day, many more Masses will be celebrated to allow the greatest number of faithful to follow the celebrations live, which will still be broadcast on TV and in streaming. It is forbidden to exchange the sign of peace.
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