Yesterday in a televised address to the country, Italian premier Giuseppe Conte announced the implementation of nationwide restrictions on movement throughout Italy and its islands. The new “zone protetta” (“protected zone”) expands the “zona rossa” (“red zone”) lockdown that was put into place across a broad swath of northern Italy early Sunday morning.

Read the New York Times coverage here.

As of today, Italians are being advised not to leave their homes and are only allowed to travel between cities and towns if they are in possession of a signed declaration that their movement is absolutely necessary for work or health reasons or “extenuating circumstances.”

The government has assured citizens that goods will continue to circulate despite the lockdown. There are widespread reports of supermarkets being overwhelmed by shoppers concerned that shortages of essential items are inevitable.

It’s not clear what the short-term impact on the Italian wine trade will be. All the major Italian wine trade fairs, generally held during this time of year, have already been cancelled or postponed. Most Italian winemakers had already cancelled international travel plans before the nationwide lockdown took effect.

“Dear friends and customers,” wrote one Italian winery in an e-blast to its clients today, “we inform you that the cellar will be closed for visits and tastings until April 3. In the meantime, keep drinking [our wine] at home, and if you don’t have enough, contact us, we will do our best to help you.”

Nothing like this has happened in Italy since the Second World War.

I had been planning to travel to Italy next week but when I logged into my airline account manager this morning, I discovered that my flights to and from Milan had been cancelled by the carrier.

My Italian friends and colleagues, at least those with whom I’ve traded messages since the announcement of the new restrictions, agree that the new restrictions are necessary. One friend in Milan told me that people are getting restless and that some are planning to travel regardless of the new lockdown. It’s not clear how authorities will enforce the restrictions or how severe the penalties will be for those who travel without authorization.

“We all have to sacrifice something for the good of Italy,” said Conte in his address.

Right now, our hearts and prayers go out to all of our Italian sisters and brothers, especially those with elderly relatives. Italians, know that we stand with you. G-d bless Italy and all of us.

Photo by Rosita Dorigo.

Above: Milan’s iconic cathedral on Monday morning around 10 a.m. On a normal day, this piazza would be full of commuters and shoppers (photo by Giovanni Contrada).

Early Sunday morning, in its ongoing efforts to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Italian government announced severe restrictions for movement across a broad swath of northern Italy, affecting roughly 16 million people.

Later in the day, the U.S. embassy in Rome issued the following statement:

On March 8, 2020, the Government of Italy signed a decree that requires individuals to avoid movement to and from and within certain areas unless one can demonstrate an essential work-related reason or other necessity such as an emergency health-related reason. It remains unclear what mechanisms the Italian government foresees to enforce the provisions of the decree.

These areas include Lombardy region; the provinces of Padova, Treviso, and Venice in Veneto region; the provinces of Alessandria, Asti, Novara, Verbano Cusio Ossola, and Vercelli in Piemonte region; the provinces of Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio nell’Emilia, and Rimini in Emilia Romagna region; and the province of Pesaro-Urbino bordering the Republic of San Marino in Marche region.

The decree is in force through April 3 and also details restrictions for the rest of Italy, such as certain large gatherings, school closures at various levels, and the closing of civil and religious ceremonies, gyms and swimming pools, theaters. museums and cultural centers. Public transportation including trains and airlines continues, but travelers should check with carriers for any schedule updates.

Above: Milan’s canal district, known as the Navigli, deserted on Monday morning (photo by Giovanni Contrada).

According to the latest update published by the Italian health ministry (6 p.m. local time, March 8), there have been 7,375 reported cases of persons infected with the virus in the country, with 6,387 persons currently testing positive. 622 persons have recovered after being infected. 3,557 persons with symptoms are currently hospitalized, 650 are in intensive care, and 2,180 are in home isolation. As of last night, 366 had died as a result of the virus (although this number is still being verified by authorities).

There is still widespread confusion as to how the northern lockdown will be implemented and who will be allowed to enter and leave the restricted zones.

Milan’s central train station was overwhelmed on Sunday as thousands of southern Italians hoped to leave the city before restrictions went into effect.

None of my Italy-based colleagues I spoke to today know exactly how strictly their movement will be monitored in coming days or how the new measures will be enforced.

According to mainstream media reports, the Milan airports are still open although Alitalia has cancelled all flights to and from Malpensa (the city’s international hub). At least one masthead reported that Alitalia is still flying in and out of Linate, the city’s smaller airport.

As the number of infections continues to grow, there seems to be no indication of when the crisis will begin to subside.

Above: leading Italian wine critic James Suckling (center, right) presented his Great Wines of Italy event Friday in Miami. Many, including me, applauded him as a hero of Italian wine for his efforts this week in the face of the growing health crisis.

In the meantime, here in the U.S., traveling Italian wine professionals were turned away last week when the Manhattan venue hosting the James Suckling Great Wines of Italy tasting refused to allow them on the premises.

In an Instagram video that has since gone viral within the Italian wine community, San Diego-based Italian wine professional Laura Donadoni described her dismay when she learned of what she termed “discrimination” toward her fellow Italians in New York and at other tastings across the U.S. this week.

Thankfully, Suckling was able to secure a new venue for the event and did not have to reschedule.

On Friday, I attended the last stop of the Great Wines of Italy tour in Miami where the event went off without a hitch, although many attendees told me that there were fewer people than last year. Over the weekend, a few wine enthusiasts told me privately that they decided not to attend the event for fear of contracting the virus (although they all insisted that they were avoiding “public gatherings” and not Italians per se).

The Italian health ministry hasn’t updated the number of reported novel coronavirus cases today but according to mainstream media reports, there are now nearly 1,700 confirmed cases, with nearly 500 new cases reported over the last 48 hours. The healthy ministry also reports that 11 cities in northern Italy remain on lockdown (see link for list).

It was an amazing site to see on Friday in Manhattan as 221 Italian wineries presented their wines at the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri tasting there.

That’s a photo (above) of the tasting as it was coming to an end shortly before 6 p.m. The room had been packed all afternoon, with no noticeable dip in attendance (at least in my experience; I attended last year’s tasting as well and have been going to Gambero Rosso events like this for more than 20 years).

The Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri tasting is like a high school reunion for most of us, an event where you see people you’ve known for decades (at least for the older folks like me). Although people were asking permission to give a hug or a kiss, it seemed (at least to me) that no one feared personal contact.

Overall, despite the growing bad news about the spread of the virus and events being postponed, the mood was joyous. In some ways, it felt like we were all commiserating in the wake of this year’s unfortunate setbacks for the wine trade (first the continued tariffs and the disruption the threat of tariffs has caused and now the virus).

On Saturday, news broke that Prowein in Düsseldorf, one of the European wine trade’s major tastings and events, has been cancelled. It was scheduled for March 15-17.

At dinner with Italian trade veterans on Friday night in Manhattan, I heard that at least one major American importer and distributor of European wines has banned European travel for its employees.

Over the weekend, U.S. mainstream media reported that Delta and American have cancelled all flights to Milan. My go-to carrier, United, hasn’t cancelled my March flight to Malpensa (Milan). But it is offering a change fee waiver for flight to most of its northern Italian destinations, including Milan.

It’s also been reported that travelers arriving from Italy will be “screened” by U.S. authorities when they arrive in the U.S. But it’s not clear yet what that will entail.

Today, I received an email from a small Italian growers association in which the authors asked me (and everyone else on their e-list) if they were planning on attending the April fairs in Italy (Vinitaly, Vinnatur, Vini Veri etc.). It seems that many in the industry are gauging whether or not those events should be cancelled. Most people I’ve spoken to on Friday and over the weekend are expecting Vinitaly to be cancelled as well.

As of today, I’m still planning on heading to Italy in mid-March.

Yesterday, I traded messages with a Los Angeles-based health professional, a good friend of mine and noted surgeon. He’s also planning to head to Italy the same week.

“From a health perspective, I’m not concerned,” he wrote. “But I am concerned that our … president can put us on a 14-day quarantine on return. I think the virus is already established here on the west coast. We have done only 600 or so tests, compared to 7000+ in Italy. We have had 2 cases out here of unknown etiology.”

I’m going to watch the evolving situation closely. But I’m still planning on going.

That’s all the news I have to report so far this morning. I’m sure there will be new developments today. Stay tuned…