"Cin Cin!"

The Covid-19 crisis has affected an unthinkably broad swathe of the planet, but it has been especially cruel to Italy. For anyone whose passions include art, fashion, culture or cuisine, Italy is not just a nation, but also an idea that is suffused with romance, even for people who’ve never been to the country and may never get to go. Though I would never suggest that one person’s suffering is more important than another’s, Italy’s symbolic potency is such that when its heart breaks, so do hearts around the world. As a person whose life and work is intimately bound with Italy—I fell in love with wine while working there over a decade ago—mine is shattered.

The long-term cultural, social and economic effects of this virus—as everywhere—loom ominously on the horizon. A particular cruelty is that