Italy's Museums Reopen With Coronavirus Rule: Stay a Meter Apart

Giulio Gamberi, 42, an IT manager, had finished working from home and decided to enjoy the museum without its usual crowds. He was outnumbered by guards, many of whom wore protective face masks and gloves.

Italy’s first coronavirus cases were reported Feb. 21, and two days later, the government cordoned off 11 towns and closed schools, universities, libraries, theaters and museums across the north of the country.

While some museums were allowed to open, the government Tuesday announced new nationwide measures. Residents are discouraged from hugging, kissing and shaking hands in public, and must keep 1 meter — about 3 feet — apart from each other at all times, the regulations say.

In a further decree Wednesday, Italy suspended “events and performances of any nature, including cinema and theater,” where the 1-meter rule cannot be enforced.

“If the cinema or theater manager can guarantee the meter distance, selling fewer tickets, or arranging people so they don’t sit next to each other, they can stay open,” said Mattia Morandi, a spokesman for the culture ministry. “But the fact is, people aren’t going to the cinema or the theater.”

In Milan on Wednesday, attendance was down at museums, too. Under the regulations, museums must also limit their capacity to make sure the 1-meter rule can be enforced. But, at the Novecento, there was no need to turn anyone away.

A staff member at the ticket kiosk said that, by just after midday, only 28 people had been admitted to the museum.

At the Palazzo Reale museum next door, 160 visitors were admitted by 1 p.m. Wednesday. According to a staff member at the ticket desk, the usual daily average is 1,000.

Daily attendance across Milan’s museums was down by 70%, Filippo Del Corno, Milan’s chief culture official, said in a telephone interview.

Italy’s culture ministry analyzes attendance at museums and archaeological sites on a monthly basis, so numbers for the whole country were not available Thursday. But contacted individually, some of Italy’s top tourist draws were noting dramatic drops in visitors.

The archaeological site at Pompeii has seen an 80% reduction, a culture ministry official said. The Uffizi in Florence continues to register between 1,000 to 2,500 visitors a day, “about the same as a normal day in low season, which this year is likely to continue through March and April,” said the museum’s director, Eike Schmidt.

Inside the Novecento in Milan, Alessandro Viapiana, 22, said he had been wearing a protective face mask when he was near his elderly grandfather, but he had left it at home to visit the museum.

“The city is empty,” he said with a shrug.

Low turnout meant that the 1-meter rule was easy to regulate, according to a guard. The real test, he said, will be if numbers climb over the weekend.

But even Wednesday, the rule’s enforcement seemed lax. At one point, a staff member at the Novecento asked Viapiana and a friend to pose for a photo for the museum’s social media, and the two men drew close together while the staff member took their picture.

Del Corno said the government’s measures were proportionate to the virus threat. Italy’s aging population, Europe’s oldest, is especially vulnerable to infection, he added.

“Our hospitals are publicly funded, so avoiding a health crisis is everyone’s responsibility,” Del Corno said. “Ultimately, it is in all of our interests.”

In Milan, people were pulling together and trying to follow the rules, he said.

“There was a small queue at the Palazzo Reale yesterday, and it was like being in England,” Del Corno said. “People really were patiently standing 1 meter apart.”

But how long it would take the country’s cultural life to return to normal was unclear.

“I don’t believe it will be an immediate recovery,” Del Corno said. “It could be more than another week.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .