Up close and personal with Italian cities during the Covid-19 pandemic and the country’s multifaceted national identity.

Author

Violetta Nespolo, Craig Newmark Graduate School of JournalismFollow

Graduation Date

Fall 12-13-2020

Grading Professor

James Estrin

Subject Concentration

Arts & Culture

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Abstract

As Italy became the first western country hit by the Covid-19 virus in 2020, it struggled to implement policies to protect its citizens. The country went into lockdown changing the face of cities, the habits of its residents and deeply shaking the country’s core. Within this setting, Italians were all asked to stay home and respect a strict lockdown for nearly two months. The first months showed people from the North to the South, come together patriotically, a show of national pride and shared identity as they fought for their country, which was facing a foreign threat. This is quite uncommon for Italy, a country with a profoundly fractured identity, that is founded upon the strong local color of the multitude of cities, towns and regions that make up the country. Through the photographic journey of key Italian cities, I tried to capture how each city incapsulates a key element of Italy’s identity, due to the specificities of each historic background and cultural development. It’s a journey thorough Italy today, as it struggles to find a way to regain control over its cities and spaces, in the era of social distancing and staying at home.

Link to capstone project: www.violettanespolo.com/capstone

Recommended Citation

Nespolo, Violetta, "Up close and personal with Italian cities during the Covid-19 pandemic and the country’s multifaceted national identity." (2020). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/463