“I had not noticed anything strange, but then I walked through the historic center, and it hit me: in the past few weeks, as the virus spread, the city emptied out. The crowds lining up to enter the Colosseum or visit the Forum have thinned; the mobs throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain or climbing the Spanish Steps have all but vanished; restaurants and bars usually overflowing with patrons are almost vacant. It is customary, of course, to lament the phenomenon of mass tourism in Italy; even the tourists themselves grumble and dream (as I do) of how nice it would be to visit the Sistine Chapel in solitary splendor. But the actual effect of the emptying out, at least for the current reason, is terrifying.” – The New Yorker