An Open Letter to PBSCA Supporters

Speaking for the Portland Bologna Sister City Association, I would like to express both our sympathy and prayers for the people of Bologna and Italy, and we all share the hope that this crisis can quickly abate. 

Italy has struggled and suffered like no other country, in the fight against the novel coronavirus. The death toll and societal disintegration in that lovely land, home to our sister city Bologna, has been devastating and has already had an effect that will last well beyond clinical trials, supply and demand reckoning and cure and vaccine. Italy, always seemingly an eternal entity, has been changed for all time. 

Reports from Bologna tell us much. First, as of March 25th, Bologna has still not seen the peak of the virus’s impact. It is snowing there today, and that reminds me how adept and adaptable the people of Bologna are. When it comes to snow, unlike Portland, in Bologna life goes on. As Doctor Anthony Fauci has said though, this is “not a snow day”. During World War II, Bologna and its environs endured months and months of bombings, and truly at the nexus of the axis, partisan and allied armies, it witnessed true cruelty and uncertainty as the tides of war shifted.  Yet, with Covid-19, Bologna and Italy have been challenged to their core. This is a war, with an identifiable, yet invisible enemy, one that infiltrates and inundates in ways just beginning to be understood. The death toll has soared, the health care system is bursting at the seams, people are fearful and stretched.

One wonders why Italy, why Bologna? Anecdotally, which is where I must come from, I can speculate. There are certain conditions and choices that Italians have made that have worsened the virus’s impact. First of all, Bologna and much of Italy are densely populated. This factor leads to behaviors and realities that hasten the spread. Not only is there proximity, there is multi-generational proximity. Many living situations include two or more generations of family occupying one living space. This has been a fact of life in Italy for some time, and has only become more prevalent since the economic woes of the last ten-plus years. Secondly, the spread has been exasperated by the lifestyle this kind of density has engendered. Many living spaces are small and the populace, even the top-heavy elderly segment, uses the streets, the caffes and bars, the piazzas, the churches, the mammoth and inclusive university, the daily shopping for groceries, the soci (social centers) for relief and social interaction. As family members dispersed throughout their neighborhoods, they contacted a diverse population, infecting and being infected by myriad people. Thirdly, you all know how Italians interact. They are an affectionate, demonstrative people. It is what we love about them; the kiss on each cheek, the arms around each other while on passeggiata, the in-your-face-finger-pointing “discussions”, the bustling, volume laden restaurants, the competitive spirit on the campo di calcio, the way teenagers socialize in packs, all lending to the spiking of the virus. Finally, and I don’t want to lay blame on anyone specifically, is Italy’s expanding relationship with China. Much industry in Italy, including textile and clothing, food and manufacturing, have increasingly been connected with the first epicenter of the virus. This meant travel to and from China, working together and cross handling materials and machinery in factories, business negotiations, all of that and more. Also, as the Chinese economy expanded greatly, disposable income and the ability for them to visit and vacation in Italy became an increasing reality, perhaps inadvertently lending to the early spread.  

The medical response in Bologna and Italy should not be criticized at his time, from this place. The aforementioned aging population in Italy has presented challenges, both physical and moral,  that Italians wrestle with now and will for some time to come. One surmises that no one or no country’s public health system was ready for this. One even gets the feeling that aid and support to a place like Italy is, to put it simply, too late. Afterall, we have our own fight going on here. There are definitely some things I wish for Italy, however. I hope for as speedy a recovery as possible, both for the infected and for their society and culture, especially, of course, including my friends and relatives. I pray that Italy bounces back. It will never be the same, but what place on earth will? Greedily, I would love to take that trip there that we have planned in the autumn. (The country and Bologna will need an infusion of tourist and business dollars that rivals, if not surpasses the Marshall Plan.) I would love to see lessons learned in Italy implemented and shared throughout Europe and the world. And, I would wish that Italy reclaims its status as one of the most vibrant, talented, industrious and fascinating places the world has ever known.

It is difficult to support our Sister City of Bologna, Italy, when we don’t know our own circumstances. In fact, our needs might be very similar to theirs. However, if you know someone there, contact them. Call them. Skype. Correspond. Plan a trip there, some time in the future. Seek and contribute to non-profit organizations that can use your contributions.