Tension in regions over end to Italy’s travel ban

North-south divide re-emerges in country struggling to restart economy

A DECISION by the Italian government to lift all restrictions on travel across the country from June 3 has opened a rift among regional governors, who are worried that coronavirus infections will spread.

Italy confirmed the date for allowing free movement between the regions, as it prepares to reopen its borders to international tourism next week.

The decision, announced on Saturday by Roberto Speranza, the health minister, came after the government reviewed the latest regional data on infections, which were considered reassuring.

Italy has been one of the countries worst hit globally by the pandemic, with the outbreak claiming more than 33,000 victims nationally, almost half of them in Lombardy, in the north.

The rate of deaths and new infections, however, has slowed in recent weeks, persuading the government to confirm its plans to allow Italians to move freely between regions for vacations.

But the different rates of infection around the country have resulted in tensions between the northern areas that were most seriously afflicted by the virus, such as Lombardy and Piedmont, and the southern ones, which have had far lower numbers of infections and rely heavily on tourism.

Some regional governors have also raised the idea of imposing a “sanitary passport”. The idea was attacked for being “discriminatory and unconstitutional” by Francesco Boccia, the minister for regional affairs.

The regions most concerned about the spread of infection are Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany and Campania – whose outspoken governor Vincenzo De Luca said that reopening all regional borders was “incomprehensible”.

As Giuseppe Conte, the Italian prime minister, tried to mediate, protesters took to the streets of Rome and Milan on Saturday, expressing anger at the government’s weak response to the economic fallout from the pandemic.

Hundreds of so-called “orange vests”, a group inspired by the French yellow vest movement and led by Antonio Pappalardo, a former general in the carabinieri, Italy’s military police, converged on Piazza Duomo in Milan, demanding the government’s resignation.

In response to the deep economic crisis that has followed the two-month lockdown, the orange vests have called for an exit from the eurozone and a return to the Italian lira. But they also embrace elements of the antivaccine movement, with some claiming that “the virus doesn’t exist”.

In Rome, a few hundred protesters tried to reach the square facing the Italian parliament and were blocked by police in anti-riot gear. After minor scuffles, the group organised a sit-in that paralysed traffic. The protest included activists from the far-right Marcia su Roma (“March on Rome”) and neofascist movement Casapound.

Protesters accused Italy’s politicians of having “betrayed” the Italian people by leaving them to cope on their own with the dramatic effects of the lockdown.

Italy’s economic output is predicted to fall by over 10 per cent this year, as workers and businesses struggle to restart the economy. ♦some cafés in Paris reopened their terraces this weekend, ahead of legal restrictions being lifted tomorrow. Although cafés, bars and restaurants across France can reopen tomorrow, in Paris they will only be allowed to serve customers at outdoor terraces. In most of the rest of the country, customers will be allowed inside. If the spread of the virus continues to slow, bars and restaurants in Paris should fully reopen from June 22.