The Italian capital, Rome, has been facing this terrible pandemic, which hit the entire world, by putting the health and well-being of its citizens before everything else. In full compliance with the national legislation on the subject, we have introduced a series of measures to guarantee the safety and the social distancing in public places. The transportation has been limited and the number of trips reduced, and body temperature detectors have been installed in the main station of the city, the Termini Station. Smart working has become the main work method during the quarantine in order to guarantee the safety of the workers.
The Department of Civil Protection, thanks to the cooperation with the local volunteering associations, has guaranteed assistance and access to essential goods to the elderly, the homeless, people with disabilities and to all those who needed help in their daily tasks. The volunteers’ action in cooperation with the Red Cross has been absolutely fundamental: on average, thirty-four volunteer associations deployed over 100 units in the field daily from March 23 to April 12. In the first three weeks of quarantine, we received 1,648 assistance requests (of which 392 were for essential goods) and 273 batches of masks were delivered to citizens in extreme need, to institutions and offices.
There are many virtuous examples that demonstrated during the emergency the great solidarity of the Roman citizens: from the donation of food vouchers to the less fortunate by the municipality employees to the groceries home deliveries organized by several local markets, with the possibility for the citizens to contribute to the initiative “Spesa sospesa” (“Suspended groceries”) by donating their groceries to charity.
The City of Rome has showed its solidarity to the citizens by setting up psychological support hotlines for the adolescents and the families facing difficulties and by catering to the cultural needs thanks to the #laculturaincasa (culture at home) initiative, which made it possible for everybody to take free virtual tours of different museums. The objective was to entertain the citizens, support and guide them through this very sensitive and difficult moment for every one of us.
Our lives and our habits have changed drastically, and we all wish to come back to normality as soon as possible while hoping that the numerous solidarity initiatives that had been launched can pave the way for new projects and new values in favor of greater solidarity between the citizens and of a more inclusive and collaborative society. May this tragic experience let us understand the true values and the important things in life.