Cultura
It was around this time that viral videos emerged online of Italians flocking to their balconies at 6pm each evening . It was the highlight of everyone ’ s day , never knowing what people were planning to blast out each evening . People played everything from garage to Pavarotti , from Bocelli to the Italian National Anthem . However , as the weeks went by , the sense of once palpable comradery had really begun to fade . By now , at 6pm , all that was audible was a distant police car siren , or lone helicopters juddering suspiciously above terracotta coloured roofs . The balcony ‘ concerts ’ became rarer as the weeks went by .
Although graffitied roller shutters which barricaded the city ’ s student bars were padlocked tightly shut , stray dogs snoozed , warming themselves in patches of sun on the dusty cobblestones of the Palermo ’ s most frequented bar terazze – the only clientele permitted since their outdoor tables and chairs were stacked inside for the last time in March . Standing in line at Lidl in the afternoon sun , if you looked upwards , you ’ d see old sheets or I Tricolore hung over the balconies of countless apartments , flapping in the wind , with ‘ andrà tutto bene ’ or rainbows painted onto them .
I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to live in a foreign city during a national lockdown . The buzz and liveliness amiss from Palermo ’ s main streets and its once pumping , student-occupied piazzas enabled me to look at the city from a perspective that I wonder if I ’ ll ever experience again . I began to see the city through new , more observant eyes . Although it was long winded , experiencing lockdown in Palermo taught me to look out for life in the city where I hadn ’ t once slowed down enough to see during my first few weeks there . But most importantly , the lockdown made me realise that life in Palermo continued on each day during it , albeit slower – and with far less noise .
Photo by Anna Kell
Anna Kell
Cultura