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CAMPANIA

‘We must focus on another type of tourism’: How one Italian site is welcoming back visitors

Ahead of the Colosseum and Pompeii, the towering Greek temple complex at Paestum near Naples is the first Italian archaeological site to reopen to tourists after the coronavirus lockdown.

Published: 25 May 2020 09:22 CEST
'We must focus on another type of tourism': How one Italian site is welcoming back visitors
Paestum is one of Italy's lesser-known ancient treasures. Photo: Guillaume Baptiste/AFP

This ancient Greek colony, dating back to the 6th century BC, reopened on May 18th with temperature checks at the entrance and other health measures implemented around the site as lockdown eases.

READ ALSO: Florence's Duomo introduces social distancing necklaces for visitors

A limited number of people are allowed on the site at the same time, they must disinfect hands and wear masks, and one-way routes have been marked out, said site director Gabriel Zuchtriegel.

The site has also developed a free app to guide visitors through the sprawling site and send an alert when too many people are gathered in the same place.

“But at the same time we also wanted to give cultural content which does not make visitors experience this situation as a limitation but as a chance to finally return to live with beauty, culture, freedom,” said Zuchtriegel.


The Temple of Hera at Paestum seen from above. Photo: Charles Onians/AFP

Zuchtriegel says the post-lockdown phase with fewer visitors to the three remarkably well-preserved temples in the Doric order should be seen as an opportunity.

“We must focus on another type of tourism, another relationship with visitors, more intense, more 'one to one', and who knows, I think this could be a model for developing 'slow tourism' in the future,” he said.

So far visitors to the site have been scarce, but the numbers are expected to pick up when tourists are once more allowed to fly in to Italy from early June.

READ ALSO: 

“After spending two months or even more at home, not going out, you really appreciate this freedom to go outside,” said visitor Svetlana.

“You realise you've been postponing things, thinking: 'Let's go tomorrow, or after tomorrow, or in a month, or not now it's too hot'. No, it's not later, it is now!” she said.

Many Italians remain at home after the over two-month lockdown, including schoolchildren, but teacher Maris has brought her pupils to Paestum via a livestream on her mobile phone.

“I came for the weekend and took the opportunity to take my pupils on a virtual trip, my pupils with whom I've been doing distance learning! They were all connected, and I took them to Paestum, and they loved it,” she said.

Pompeii will reopen to the public on May 26th, while Rome's Colosseum has not yet announced when visitors will be able to return.

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HEALTH

Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The World Health Organization's European office warned on Tuesday the risk of Covid-19 has not gone away, saying it was still responsible for nearly 1,000 deaths a week in the region. And the real figure may be much higher.

Published: 27 June 2023 13:27 CEST
Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The global health body on May 5 announced that the Covid-19 pandemic was no longer deemed a “global health emergency.”

“Whilst it may not be a global public health emergency, however, Covid-19 has not gone away,” WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge told reporters.

The WHO’s European region comprises 53 countries, including several in central Asia.

“Close to 1,000 new Covid-19 deaths continue to occur across the region every week, and this is an underestimate due to a drop in countries regularly reporting Covid-19 deaths to WHO,” Kluge added, and urged authorities to ensure vaccination coverage of at least 70 percent for vulnerable groups.

Kluge also said estimates showed that one in 30, or some 36 million people, in the region had experienced so called “long Covid” in the last three years, which “remains a complex condition we still know very little about.”

“Unless we develop comprehensive diagnostics and treatment for long Covid, we will never truly recover from the pandemic,” Kluge said, encouraging more research in the area which he called an under-recognised condition.

Most countries in Europe have dropped all Covid safety restrictions but some face mask rules remain in place in certain countries in places like hospitals.

Although Spain announced this week that face masks will no longer be required in certain healthcare settings, including hospitals and pharmacies, with a couple of exceptions.

Sweden will from July 1st remove some of its remaining Covid recommendations for the public, including advice to stay home and avoid close contact with others if you’re ill or have Covid symptoms.

The health body also urged vigilance in the face of a resurgence of mpox, having recorded 22 new cases across the region in May, and the health impact of heat waves.

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