- Title: Mass from rooftop in Perugia, Italians mark Palm Sunday at home
- Date: 5th April 2020
- Summary: PERUGIA, ITALY (APRIL 5, 2020) (REUTERS) FATHER GAETANO ROMANO LEADING MASS FROM ROOFTOP / OLIVE BRANCHES / GIRL WEARING PROTECTIVE MASK HOLDING GUITAR
- Embargoed: 19th April 2020 14:56
- Keywords: COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak Italy Naples Ostia Palm Sunday Perugia Venice mass pandemic quarantine
- Location: PERUGIA, VENICE, NAPLES AND OSTIA, ITALY
- City: PERUGIA, VENICE, NAPLES AND OSTIA, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001C87S213
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: On a surreal Palm Sunday (April 5), Father Gaetano Romano led a mass from his terrace to lift the spirits of his neighbours in Perugia, during the Italian lockdown.
"The people were happy (about the mass), as far as they told me. Even a few elderly people contacted me to thank me," Father Romano said.
Thanks to the speakers Father Romano usually uses for the processions, dozens of faithful listened to the mass from their balconies and windows, holding olive branches.
Romano's intention is to keep celebrating the mass every week, unless further measures are introduced to combat the coronavirus.
In the lagoon city of Venice all the streets and canals remained eerily deserted, while the mass was being carried out in an empty St. Mark's Basilica.
In the southern city of Naples, the owner of an open shop gave olive branches to his customers.
The beaches in Ostia, normally crowded by Rome residents in the spring, were completely empty.
With more than 15,000 dead, Italy has the world's highest death toll from the COVID-19 disease, accounting on its own for almost a quarter of all deaths globally. But the government is also grappling with the economic devastation caused by the sudden halt to business across the country.
(Production: Matteo Berlenga, Manuel Silvestri, Ciro De Luca, Alberto Lingria, Oriana Boselli, Alessandro Felici) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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