Belluno
“We were black, angry, until a few days ago. Now we have the strength to be only disappointed ».
This is stated, up there in Sappade, behind Falcade, by Fabrizio Pescosta, the soul of the 130 agritourisms in the province. All closed. Hermetically closed, although the orange zone arrives on Tuesday. “Disappointment borders on despair”, adds Pescosta, “because we see that nothing has changed in one year, the government is new but hasn’t brought any news, there are vaccines but they are still made with a dropper.”
The mood of those who cannot open on Tuesday is really down. This is also confirmed by Walter De Cassan, provincial president of Federalberghi. «We are 350 in the province, only three hotels are open in Cortina, I don’t think we will reach 50 in the whole Belluno area. Open businesses are those that work with company staff engaged in various construction sites. Enough, there are no tourists ».
Easter marks the discontinuity between winter and summer, the beginning of that pause that usually lasts until May. «The next few weeks would still be of absolute absence. That’s why I hope », adds De Cassan,« that we get ready for a worthy summer opening. Like? Vaccinating the owners and staff of the hotels, because otherwise no one will come up here in the mountains ».
This is a problem that is first raised by De Cassan. «Precisely for this I launch the warning. In fact, I don’t hear anyone talking about it. But be careful, if the hotels are not Covid free, last year’s season will not be repeated ».
Throughout Easter Eve, Luca Dal Poz, director of Confcommercio Belluno, received continuous phone calls from his associates, all worried and alarmed: can we or can we not open from 7 April? “Unfortunately not the administration, except for the take away,” the manager replied patiently. Patience, yes, because exasperation is now skyrocketing.
Dal Poz does not know to what extent to share the affirmation of its regional president Patrizio Bertin: the return in orange is not the “resurrection” we all yearn for, but it is still the “progression” we wish for. “Our operators are psychologically broken. Do we want to be confident? The important thing, ”continues Dal Poz,“ is that the progression, from now on, is actually a progression that no longer knows any setbacks. Only in this way can the tension that has accumulated in our companies be tempered, thus avoiding a slide towards the social conflict that must be avoided at all costs ».
Clothing, goldsmiths, furniture, household goods and markets will be able to return to business. The other sectors do not. “It’s not a lot,” says Bertin, “but it’s a first step. If the vaccination campaign, which is evidently giving its results, continues at a rapid pace, we can objectively hope to get out of a nightmare that has lasted for over 13 months ”.
“We too here in Belluno hope so, we want to believe in it, but so many, too many colleagues, are captured by a profound disappointment. Also because they continue to delay the promised support. What is the biggest problem in perspective? It is the very serious inequality that is being created between those who can open and those who cannot, between those who work and those who are forced to stay at home without any integration ». –
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