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The World Shuts Down - But Italy Sings

Jamie Dettmer

   The world may be shutting down but there's still time for music in
   Italy, even if the concert halls are closed.

   Across Italy, from the Tuscan town of Siena to the southern city of
   Naples, Italians are refusing to be silenced. Overnight, neighbors
   started singing together, leaning out through open windows or standing
   on their balconies -- a collective act of civic solidarity and
   coronavirus defiance.

   In Siena they started singing a traditional Tuscan folk song, Il Canto
   della Verbena (And While Siena Sleeps), one of the town's most
   cherished melodies and sung since the Middle Ages. The back-and-forth
   choruses echoed down the narrow, deserted street of the medieval town.
   "Long live Siena, the most beautiful of cities."

   A video posted on social media of the singing went viral, with many on
   Twitter saluting the singing as a "beautiful" act of humanity.

   "People of my hometown Siena sing a popular song from their houses
   along an empty street to warm their hearts during the Italian COVID-19
   lockdown," wrote one person on Twitter.

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