At the time we were revising the proofs of this book, Italy suddenly became one of the countries most hit by Coronavirus (COVID-19). On 9 March 2020, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signed a decree implementing a complete lockdown aimed at ‘avoiding any movement of individuals’. Only a small number of ‘essential activities’ remained open: health services, of course, and food stores, as well as the industrial, agricultural and logistic activities linked to these two sectors. Where possible, working at a social distance was implemented. Where this was not possible, workers were covered by the WGF, which was also extended to people working in small firms and sectors that previously not had such protection. But, given the large amount of very small firms and of self-employed people in Italy, as well as the large numbers of seasonal or temporary workers in tourism and cultural activities, many had neither work nor income protection. Many small enterprises risk not being able to re-open their shops, for example, and those formerly employed in them are facing difficulties in finding work as the lockdown is gradually being lifted – non-food shops, restaurants, cafes, cultural venues, tourism, sports, together with schools and childcare and education services will be the last to be reopened. Tourism in particular, which accounts for 13.2 per cent of GNP in Italy and 14.9 per cent of total employment, will likely continue to suffer the effects of COVID-19 throughout the whole of 2020 and possibly into 2021.

At the time of writing (May 2020), the forecasts from the main financial institutions are very negative for Italy, with a decrease of GDP estimated at 9.1 per cent in 2020, the largest in the developed world, and an increase of unemployment by 12.7 per cent (IMF, World Economic Outlook, April 2020). These data should be read against the fact that Italy entered this crisis not having fully recovered – in GNP and employment levels – from the financial 2008 crisis, and saddled with an already high public debt, which has reduced public spending, notwithstanding the temporary lifting of the EU fiscal budget requirements.

COVID-19 will therefore have remarkable short- and medium-term economic and social consequences for Italy, not to mention the thousands of people who have died, half of them concentrated in the most industrialised region of Italy, Lombardy.