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OPINION AND ANALYSIS

OPINION: Italy’s Covid health pass is a necessary step – but what’s next?

Italy's Covid-19 health certificate has been implemented fairly smoothly and has so far faced little resistance. But with the document now becoming a requirement for many parts of everyday life, writer Richard Hough in Verona asks what effect this could have in the longer term.

OPINION: Italy’s Covid health pass is a necessary step - but what’s next?
For Italy's residents, the obligation to carry identity documents is nothing new. Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

Carta d’identita, tessera sanitaria, permesso di soggiorno, patente di guida… the list of documents essential for everyday living in Italy is long, and now the certificazione verde is set to join the pile.

In a bid to boost vaccination coverage and keep infection rates down, the Italian government has announced its intention to make the health certificate (also known as the ‘green pass’) obligatory for all employees in both the public and private sectors from next month. 

Since it was launched in the summer, the green pass – which indicates that the holder is vaccinated, recovered, or has had a recent negative coronavirus test – has already been necessary in order to access certain public places including stadiums, libraries, and museums.

EXPLAINED: How Italy will enforce the new ‘green pass’ rules in all workplaces

My experience of the system so far is that its implementation has been relatively straightforward and light-touch (though I know that experience hasn’t been shared by everyone). Of course, that could all change when the enhanced system is rolled out, but I’ve seen nothing to suggest that the system will flounder under the increased stress of its wider application. 

For the technologically literate, it’s relatively simple to generate your green pass and install it on your phone, assuming, of course, you’ve been able to access the vaccination programme in the first place. 

Undoubtedly some will require assistance grappling with the technology, but with printed copies of the pass also acceptable, there is no reason (in theory at least) for anyone to be left behind. 

Passengers show their health passes while boarding a high-speed Frecciarossa train in Rome. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

I carry a PDF version of the document on my phone, and that has been sufficient to satisfy any demands for it that I have encountered so far. In the early days, I also carried a printed copy, in case of any technological mishaps, but I haven’t yet suffered that inevitable indignity.

In reality, I’ve only been asked to show my pass on a handful of occasions – most notably, to access the library and to enter the cavernous Stadio Bentegodi to cheer on Hellas Verona, my local team. I’ve also been asked to show my pass at a couple of bars, those murky places I tend to frequent that have indoor-only space. 

Of course, there’s no requirement to have a green pass if you’re eating or drinking all’aperto [outdoors], and the whole procedure, if you can even describe it as such, is simple, efficient and discreet, with bar staff acting with admirable good-faith, common sense and discretion. In some cases, it’s enough to simply affirm that you have the pass, without actually showing it. In others, a quick glance is all that’s required. 

READ ALSO: Where do you now need to show a Covid green pass in Italy?

At the stadium and the library, a more ‘thorough’ ID check is performed, to ensure that the name on your green pass matches the name on your ID, but again it’s hardly an onerous process.

Of course, documents are a way of life here in Italy. Italians, in common with most other developed nations, are long-accustomed to having a mandatory system of identification.  

Along with the ubiquitous codice fiscale [tax code], Italians go nowhere without their carta d’identità, and are accustomed to having to produce it (to pick up a parcel from the post office or to check into a hotel, for example). 

Indeed, the concept of a society, such as the United Kingdom, that doesn’t have a mandatory system of identification is completely alien to your average Italian. When I occasionally explain to students that no such system exists in the UK, I am generally met with profound befuddlement and disbelief: “But….but…” they stammer, “How do you prove who you are?” 

The libertarian notion that in a free society you shouldn’t have to prove who you are is a completely alien concept to them.

So, in a society in which procuring documents and proving your status is practically a national pastime, one extra form to remember shouldn’t cause too much controversy. 

READ ALSO:

The most persistent argument I’ve heard against the green pass is that it is the thin end of a creeping wedge of Covid-enabled authoritarianism. First, we were asked to have the vaccine, then it became a necessity. Now, we must prove that we’ve had it in order to go about our daily lives. Where does it end? There’s even a third dose in the pipeline now. Will that too become mandatory?

Indeed, there is a risk that some of the measures unrolled during the pandemic will prove very tricky to roll back, as big business and bureaucrats alike cling on to systems and procedures that have yielded an easy profit or a systemic benefit.

Italian cities have seen scattered protests against the green pass requirement in recent months. Photo: Filippo MONTEFORTE/AFP

The library, for example, is one place where the new system may have delivered some net gains for the institution, at the expense of the fundamental freedoms of the user. 

After 18 months, it’s only in recent weeks that Verona’s Biblioteca Civica has reopened its doors to users. To access the building, its archives and reading rooms, you now need to use an app to book a four-hour slot. On arrival your temperature is checked, as well as your green pass and identity card. 

Once a haven for the destitute and the lonely (I occasionally fell into that category myself), the enhanced checks in place at the library undoubtedly have a chilling effect for the casual user, a consequence of which is that access is now restricted to the most avid scholars and researchers (and me). 

I can see why maintaining that approach may appeal to library administrators long after the Covid pandemic passes, but I hope that the library will once again become the welcoming, non-judgemental place it once was.

Meanwhile, after everything we’ve been through these past 18 months – long periods of virtual house arrest, home-schooling, profound limitations on our movement, crippling restrictions on our work life, and isolation from loved ones and family – having to carry a simple piece of paper to show that we’ve been vaccinated seems like a small price to pay. But I can’t help but wonder what’s coming next.

READ ALSO: ‘What it was like travelling home to the UK from Italy after two years’

Richard Hough has lived in Verona since September 2011 and writes about the region’s history, football, wine and culture. His new book, Rita’s War, a true story of persecution, resistance and heroism from wartime Italy, is available here. He is currently writing his next book about wartime Verona.

Member comments

  1. Would you have any updates on when is the likelihood of them accepting other vaccines like Covishield (Astra-Zeneca manufactured in India)? The mandatory green pass without acceptance of foreign vaccines will be punitive for people who followed the rules but have shitty luck in general.

  2. I’ve also read that the European Union expects Novavax to be available around October 2021. Are you seeing any updates on this vaccine being available? Especially in Florence?

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OPINION AND ANALYSIS

OPINION: Why Italians complain they’ve no money but still holiday and eat out

Italians often say the are out of pocket, yet they always seem to find enough cash to go on holiday and dine out at restaurants. Silvia Marchetti explains why.

OPINION: Why Italians complain they've no money but still holiday and eat out

I often hear colleagues and friends complain they have low salaries and can’t make ends meet, but then somehow have just enough money to go on holiday twice a year, eat out and go for drinks after work every week. 

This is something that also baffles foreigners I have spoken to, and it is tied to the Italian mindset and lifestyle. 

Italians are addicted to leisure, festivities are sacrosanct as are ponti (long weekends), and they can’t seem to skip going out on weekends, eating at restaurants, having an aperitivo even during working days, and clubbing at least twice a month.

READ ALSO: Aperol and aperitivo: A guide to visiting bars and cafes in Italy

And it’s not just young people, but also adults. Friends of mine who earn €1,500 per month can end up spending up to €150 per night on weekends for fancy dinners and cocktails, plus another €200 for a day trip. People I know without jobs always have daily cash to buy a pack a cigarettes per day and enjoy a pizza with friends twice a week. 

I’m not saying everyone does: many people really struggle with finances and make huge sacrifices.

But where does the money come from that many complain they don’t have? 

Lampedusa, Italy

A view of the popular Guitgia beach on the Italian island of Lampedusa in May 2021. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

More often than not it’s from their family, either their parents or relatives, and also from rentals of properties and patches of land. The majority of Italians own a first home, meaning they don’t pay taxes on it, plus typically enlarged families tend to own second homes, no matter how small, which they often rent as safe revenue streams. 

A friend of mine with a 400 square-metre farmhouse handed down from his shepherd parents rents four rooms at €200 each per month. He only earns €800 working as a bartender. My cleaning lady leases a five-hectare olive grove in Rome’s countryside to a farmer for €5,000 per year, while making just €10 per hour doing house chores. 

We have a phrase for this: ‘Campare di rendita’, meaning ‘put your feet up for life’ by relying on indirect income that doesn’t stem from active work, and confidence that no matter how financially bad one’s doing, there are always safety nets linked to family possessions, at all social levels. 

A job may come and go but a leased room, henhouse, orchard or tiny rural cottage is an investment for life. 

Pocket money from kind grandparents’ pensions also comes in handy. Whoever lives up to 80-years-old after having worked their entire life is sure to have set aside some savings for their grandchildren, who know who to turn to for weekend cash. 

It’s not just a matter of priorities, it’s a cultural mindset and way of life. Making sacrifices and staying at home, skipping a tavern meal or a short fun weekend touring remote villages or just a drink with friends, because you are short of money is a no-no for most. 

Italians may jokingly complain they have a hard time getting to the end of the month with their salary, but they give too much importance to appearances to miss out on the fun. They still want to be seen as cool, showing off they can afford a short holiday or a restaurant meal anyway. 

Rialto, Venice

A couple enjoys a coffee in a bar next to Venice’s Rialto bridge in April 2021. Photo by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP

My granny had a saying: “Never admit how bad you’re faring, joke about it but then always show others you have the means to do everything, even if you don’t.”

In the south, where the showy culture is stronger than in the north, the ‘campare di rendita’ approach rules. Young people, even when jobless, sit back and wait for brighter times, knowing that in the meantime they can hang out at their uncle’s summer house for six months straight or rely on renting their car to the next-door neighbour for €20 a day. 

There’s also another factor to take into account. Cost of living in Italy is relatively low compared to other countries, which helps spread the belief that anyone can afford a €8 pizza or a €25 four-course tavern meal at a rural restaurant. B&Bs across Italy in low season may charge even just €25 per room, hotels about €75. 

Then there are Italians who really go to great lengths to find money and aren’t afraid to run into debt. 

READ ALSO: Why the long August holidays are untouchable for Italians

I was shocked last summer when I read about thousands of families asking for bank loans of up to €6,500 just to go on holiday, to be paid back in four years with interests. Having new clothes or the latest pair of pumps and sneakers even if expensive, is another must, as is owning a cool car no matter for how many years one must pay monthly instalments, which rise in time. 

Grumbling lightheartedly about not having money but then having it for leisure is often just a façade of the social mask many Italians put on to show ‘che va tutto bene’ – all is well. 

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