Iana& Nicholasendinglove
EASTER week would normally see thousands of Catholics from all over the world flock to Rome, but instead the Italian capital is desolate, residents confined to their houses, and visitors banned from visiting its ancient streets.
For Drogheda woman Iana Doherty, studying in Italy was the dream of a lifetime, returning to the land of her birth.
She moved to Rome in October of last year, but her adopted home has been in lockdown for the past two months, after Italy was one the countries hardest hit by the coronovirus.
“I was born in Italy but grew up mostly in Drogheda since my family decided to move in 2000,” explains Iana, whose immediate family are in the town, along with her Dad Brian’s side of the family. “I’ve just turned 29 and celebrated this birthday in self quarantine in Rome. Thankfully my flatmates helped me celebrate with a small lunch that we were able to muster up from what we had in the house that day”. Iana is currently living in the central neighbourhood of Esquilino, and has been con fined to her apartment since the lockdown began.
She says Rome is usually a very busy bustling city, but has now gone quiet over this period of isolation.
“To put it into perspective, ducks have apparently returned to bathe in the very central fountain on the Piazza di Spagna,” says Iana. “There is a veil of eeriness over the city that was lifted a little with the midday applause to the healthcare workers, the 6 o’clock singing from the balconies and children in the condominium writing in colourful chalk “andrà tutto bene” (everything will be fine) in the central courtyard.
The tight restrictions are very different to how it was at the start of the outbreak.
“At the beginning it was very frequent hand washing, but at this point it has become staying at home (in Italian, #iorestoacasa),” says Iana. “When my college first closed, I could stay, at the moment I only really leave the flat to head to the supermarket that is just across the street. When going to the supermarket you are asked to wear gloves and there is a restriction of how many people can go in at once. This means a small queue forms outside where everyone has to respect the social distancing rules put in place by the government.”
Iana is studying for a Masters in Accessory Design in Accademia Costume e Moda in Rome.
“After many years of contemplating whether I should go back to education I decided to follow my dream of moving into the fashion field of accessories and what better place to do it than Italy,” she explains. “Sometimes it’s hard as I miss my family and my boyfriend who is currently living in The Netherlands. For now, I can keep busy at home with my coursework as my college has organised some online lessons and reviews even though it’s hard to concentrate in such a worrying and unprecedented situation.”
Despite the restrictions, Iana says she keeping busy.
“I try to stay active and take my mind off things by doing workouts on the rooftop terrace with my flat mates,” she says with a laugh. “And of course, cooking which really help to keep a positive frame of mind, because right now, what I miss most is being with my family.”
Nicola Vaughey is also missing her family from her home in south Hertfordshire, where she has lived with her husband and two children for 20 years and in London since the late 80s.
“Pretty much everyone is still in Drogheda, my parents Breda and Jim Vaughey, and brothers Kevin and Eoghan, sister Rachel and their families, and we keep in touch with daily Facetime is calls, which is lovely,” she explains. “Initially there had been wobbly moments as the realities sank in and when you could see around corners what was happening a couple of weeks ahead of us in Italy and Spain. I’m working from home for the past month and the thoughts of crushing onto the Jubilee Line during rush hour was not a temptation. Apart from that I roll up the rug for a Zumba class with my daughter a few times a week and take long walks every evening into countryside I hadn’t even known was on our doorstep before”.
In Nicola’s opinion, not enough action was taken fast enough.
“A major error was to advise people not to go to pubs or restaurants etc but to not actually shut them down. Also, people have been asked not to use public transport unless absolutely necessary, however services were reduced such that more people ended up travelling in less space,” adds Nicola, who in the risk management team at an accountancy firm based in Canary Wharf, London.
“This mixed messaging is bound to have had detrimental consequences on the speed of infection spread. Otherwise, much like Ireland we stay home except if you can’t work from home, we shop carefully and infrequently, exercise outdoors once a day for up to an hour and maintain social distancing of at least 2m”.
To cope, she says the family tries to have a special dress-up dinner one evening a week, just to brighten things up.
“It’s been a new reality and an education but we just hope not to hit the lockdown fatigue that is starting to emerge in Italy anytime soon,” she says with a smile. “I miss so much about Drogheda though, especially the people! They are definitely the best. You can’t ever walk down the town without meeting a relative or five! Also missing my Dad’s legendary breakfasts and of course the river Boyne which you can see from the window when we are there and love to walk along. We are so glad to have had a week in Drogheda at the end of February, just before things started to hot up, it was lovely to spend precious time with the family”.