Marco Vigorita strummed his ukulele and belted out three songs – his self-imposed limit – then stayed around to joke with the table of…
Marco Vigorita strummed his ukulele and belted out three songs – his self-imposed limit – then stayed around to joke with the table of four finishing their lunch outside a restaurant in the bohemian neighborhood of Trastevere.
The four women at the table were there to celebrate one of them earning her law degree, and Vigorita, a common sight on the usually thriving restaurant and bar scene in Trastevere, had no place to go.
“This,” Vigorita said, tilting his head toward the restaurant, Da Enzo, “this is what passes for tourism these days.”
The restaurant served fewer than a dozen diners that lunch shift, a far cry from normal circumstances when Da Enzo’s mostly international clientele stand in line for a seat at the tiny eatery.
Rich in historical and cultural treasures such as the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon and containing Vatican City within its borders, Italy’s capital has been among the world’s most prominent tourist destinations for centuries.
But the city’s sprawling tourism industry was shuttered in early March when Italy announced Europe’s first modern peacetime lockdown in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus. By mid-April, the measures – most residents had to stay at home except for medical appointments or food shopping, and police patrolled the streets in search of rule-breakers – had largely contained the spread of the virus. Weeks later, the tourist industry remains a casualty of the lockdown.
Italian officials hope that will start to change this week. Starting Wednesday, Italy will allow travelers from the 25 other members of the Schengen visa-free travel area that covers much of Europe to come to Italy with no restrictions. Few expect large numbers to arrive – at least at first.
Rome, which is home to nearly 3 million permanent residents, is hardly a ghost town, but without clusters of tourists and traffic jams, it has become an unhurried place.
