The whole country is confined to home to slow the spread of coronavirus, but staying within four walls need not be terrible if we nurture our passions by making the most of technology.
Boredom. Suddenly all this free time isn't so welcome after all — it breeds worry, anxiety and, in the best of cases, plain old boredom. All across Italy, citizens are confined to their homes because of the coronavirus emergency: every routine, even the simplest, has changed in a matter of days. It is an entirely unprecedented situation that is undoubtedly unsettling. To counter negative thoughts, and by making the most of technology, we offer a range of ideas depending on whether you love art, literature, cinema or something else entirely. It is possible to survive — and indeed to make the most of — this enforced time at home. While we wait for it to pass soon.
Many museums have long offered virtual tours of their galleries and online access to their works, but until now it may never have occurred to us to visit a gallery or an exhibition sitting on the sofa in front of a computer. These days, however, it can be a pleasure to let oneself be "infected by beauty" — as Eike Dieter Schmidt, director of the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence, put it — by taking advantage of the wealth of content available freely online.
If you are feeling nostalgic for the Sistine Chapel you visited on a school trip in middle school, or you want to take a stroll around the Louvre in Paris without queuing, it only takes a few clicks. The most celebrated works of art, held at the Hermitage in St Petersburg or the Metropolitan Museum in New York, are available to everyone, every day.
Ad hoc projects have also been developed and launched specifically in response to the emergency: through Uffizi Decameron, for example, photos, videos and stories dedicated to the masterpieces housed in the Galleria delle Statue e delle Pitture, Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens will be published on the museum's social channels. The title is inspired by the celebrated work by Giovanni Boccaccio written in the mid-fourteenth century: in it, ten young people flee the contagion of the Black Death by taking refuge in a villa on the hills above Florence, and to fight the boredom of their forced retreat each of them tells a story a day, drawing on a different theme each time.
Also worth keeping an eye on are the documentaries available on Raiplay: free to watch, they range from monographs on great artists — don't miss the one dedicated to the genius of Caravaggio — to specials on entire artistic movements such as the Bauhaus. The offering is genuinely broad and high in quality.
Shield with the Head of Medusa is the subject of a painting made around 1597 by the Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, held at the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence
Literature: free e-books to download and other events for book lovers
Reading a good book is an act that, in its simplicity, can lift your mood and offer a few pleasant moments.
If you are looking for something new beyond your own bookshelf, you should know that it is possible to download e-books free of charge from the MLOL website, MediaLibraryOnLine: this is a network of public libraries for digital lending, accessible to all those registered with the Milan library system. To use it, your tax code serves as the username, while the password can be reset by entering your email address. Every region has a similar system.
Some major publishers have also decided, during this particular period, to make certain novels available as free downloads: for example, Adelphi is "offering" In cerca di guai by Mark Twain, but there have always been various portals where a large number of texts can be downloaded: Progetto Gutenberg and Liber Liber are the best known and hold a truly impressive catalogue.
If, on the other hand, you enjoy listening to the finest novels ever written, comfortably settled in an armchair, "Ad alta voce" is made for you: it is one of Radio3's long-standing programmes, featuring books read aloud by great actors, broadcast live on the radio every afternoon or available as a podcast to listen back to and download whenever you like. A chance to discover, if you haven't already, the pleasure of being told a story.
Another wonderful initiative is that of Alessio Bertallot, who on his web radio has launched "Fiesta immobile", where every day at 6:30 pm a prominent writer reads and discusses one of their favourite texts: among the first to feature are Alessandro Baricco and Carlo Lucarelli. Genuinely delightful.
Cinema, theatre, children: there's something for everyone
Lovers of quality cinema may already know that the catalogue of the Fondazione cineteca italiana allows you to watch a great many titles from the history of international cinema free of charge — you just need to register (the process is a little convoluted but perfectly manageable). Less niche but easily accessible is the film offering from Rai: there really is something for everyone, especially for the evenings on the sofa that lie ahead of us.
Theatre has not stopped either, despite stages having been off limits for some time: the Teatro Righiera in Milan, for example, shares a children's fairy tale every day at snack time on its YouTube channel, for the benefit of the youngest, who are among those hardest hit by the enforced "lockdown". And still on the subject of the little ones, the children's museum Muba has produced a guide to explain to them what coronavirus is, available as a free download here. It can be genuinely useful for parents who find themselves bombarded with questions.
As far as physical and mental wellbeing is concerned, LifeGate has played its part and from March has been offering yoga classes via streaming: the appointment is on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:00 pm across all social channels with Micol Dell'Oro. An hour of wellbeing to help make the most of these difficult days.
Things to do at home for those who love art, literature, cinema and more
Rights — di Simona Denise Deiana
The whole country is confined to home to slow the spread of coronavirus, but staying within four walls need not be terrible if we nurture our passions by making the most of technology.
