How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect you the most?

Since Covid-19 hit Italy (end of February), everything has turned upside down. Work has always taken me far from my family: I live and work in Milan since 2017, before that I spent some time working in Amsterdam. The lockdown reunited us and it was a privilege to spend so much time with family again. Also, my daily routine had become oppressive and entirely work-centred. Now having spent half of the lockdown furloughed/working from home I’ve finally tidied up my priorities. More than ever I’m taking real care of myself. Exercising and practising a bit of self-love for the first time in years. Finally, I truly didn’t believe that the world could pause as it did. And despite all the drama, I’m thankful for all the silence, calm and beauty I’ve experienced now in a way I had never imagined.

What is your wish for the future?

I hope we’ll be able to learn from this pandemic. Learn to cherish what we have, watch over what matters the most and be selfless. As well as more respectful towards everything and everyone around us. My wish is to see this crisis turn into an opportunity. All these people cannot have died in vain, our efforts cannot blow away.

What would you like to be doing right now?  

Right now, I wish I could hug all my friends who are stuck abroad away from their families and that may have lost their beloved ones without even having the chance to say goodbye. There’s nothing as painful as being apart in such critical times.