Paolo. Brescia, Italy

“I live in Brescia and work in Bergamo. Two wonderful cities in Northern Italy, united by this deep wound that made them famous all over the world. I have been home since March 5. From tomorrow in Brescia – and in the rest of Lombardy –  face protection will be mandatory if you have to go out for urgent and/or work reasons. Everyday we hear ambulances passing by uninterruptedly, and it is even more impressive to hear the Carabinieri helicopter flying over the city at low altitudes to check and identify gatherings of people.  It protects us, but it makes us think. And it’s going to be like that for many weeks to come. I’m living this situation of emergency with the awareness of being lucky: my wife Raffaella is fine and we have amplified our moments of joy together; my close relatives are also fine, and I can work remotely with colleagues and musicians from all over the world as I have a small recording studio at home. My art, my music, my life. It is an important moment for me, to find the depth of human relationships, to be surprised by solidarity, to have the time to call friends and loved ones and to know that they are well; it’s also important to start building a new present because the future now not only seems distant, but doesn’t seem to be possible at all. An important moment in which I elaborated the mourning of having lost freedom, an important moment in which I discovered a new freedom. Nobody knows whether we will change for the better or for the worse, but we will certainly change. It is up to us to make sure that the change is going to be positive”. Paolo is an electronic songwriter and musician, his latest concert was held on February 20 at the Teatro Grande in Brescia.