No lunch with relatives and not even the long weekend in Paris or London. No mass, which for some, together with Christmas, was the only one of the year. No trip to the sea to open the windows of the second house. No visits to the most beautiful art cities in Italy. The 'strange' Easter is approaching where all the Italians will be at home, in the family, but only with those with whom they live, without grandparents or cousins or boyfriends. Easter Monday, ditto, with the mockery of the weather that heralds sun all over Italy and temperatures of 25-26 degrees. A factor that will do a lot of work for the police forces called to check who will not comply with the containment rules. Of the party, also mentioned by the proverbs, only the legendary "Easter cleaning" remains, considering how much free time there is in families, to be occupied in some way.
A melancholy Easter, therefore, where one of the most positive notes is that of the great solidarity that is seen in these days, with the special distribution of eggs and doves to the poor but also in the many hospitals on the front line against Covid-19. Lunch this year is strictly do-it-yourself. And if on the social networks the traditional leafless recipes of the most difficult passages multiply to help even those who do not love cooking, there are also those who do not give up the menu of their favorite restaurant.
"We have reservations for Easter and some of our customers note, not without regret, that it is the first time, after so many years, that they are not having lunch with us on the feast day," they say from a renowned restaurant in Borgomanero, Novara, who 'converted' by delivering meals at home. In Rome, to deliver the Easter lunch, the most famous pizzeria in the historic center takes care of it, also mentioned in the Routard guide, which provides an Easter menu based on white lasagna with artichokes and the inevitable lamb with potatoes. A dish, this, which is the classic for many tables and the farmers and breeders of the agritourisms, 23 thousand structures closed today, according to the data of Coldiretti, are preparing to send them to those who ask for them.
No pastiera at home instead for the Neapolitans. Only those families can eat it where someone knows how to try their hand at the long and laborious recipe. The governor of Campania Vincenzo De Luca also prohibited the delivery of food at home with an ordinance. The Romans were more fortunate and there will be plenty of sought-after Sicilian cannoli from Prati's pastry shop which delivers them in a 'kit', with the filling to be added at the moment.
For the first time in history it will be an Easter without masses for Catholics, who will only be able to follow it on TV or online, despite some political controversy. But these are holidays also for the Jews: the Pesach, whose solemn moment is the Seder, the dinner that opens the celebrations and that normally sees the whole family gathering, including grandparents, uncles, cousins, for blessings, the choral reading of the Haggadah (the story of the Jews leaving Egypt). Some rabbis, with an unprecedented decision, have authorized to hold this fundamental family meeting by videoconference using, for example, the platform offered by Zoom which allows, even if distant, however, a participation. Easter will be the day instead of the films to be seen on TV or of the great shows born just for the occasion such as the Andrea Bocelli concert at the Milan Cathedral.
Greetings? The whole world will do it via whatsapp or through other social channels; the indispensable tool of Easter 2020, under the threat of coronavirus, will therefore be the phone, better a smartphone, since even the over-70s in these complicated days have learned to download apps for video calls with their grandchildren with whom to fill the long days of confinement. (ANSA).