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A young woman sings from the window in Milan, Italy on March 13, 2020. Some people in the country asked the public to stand on the balcony and sing or play something, to make people feel united in the quarantine. (Photo: Mairo Cinquetti/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
'A Kind of Triumph of Spirit': Locked Down Italians Singing From Balconies Inspire Hope Across World
"This is why so many people through many centuries fall in love with Italy."
Mar 16, 2020
Italians under lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak crisis have inspired people around the world by singing and creating music together from balconies despite not being able to leave their homes.
A montage video showing Italians serenading one another in high rise apartment buildings and playing music together was "a kind of triumph of spirit," as one Italy-centric Twitter account put it on Friday.
Videos have poured in from across Italy:
\u201cA whole Roman neighborhood singing a popular Italian song \u201cVolare\u201d from their balconies and waving at each other. An amazing flash mob to lift the spirit in these crazy times \u2764\ufe0f #Italy #coronavirus #forzaitalia #roma #flashmob #love\u201d— Jenna Vehvil\u00e4inen (@Jenna Vehvil\u00e4inen) 1584120049
Similar displays took place in Lebanon:
And in Spain, people took to balconies to clap and sing together:
\u201cMe llega este v\u00eddeo, desconozco el autor. \n\nSevillanas en la calle Cristo del Buen Fin. Esto s\u00f3lo puede pasar en Sevilla.\n\n\u00a1Grandeza de ciudad!\u201d— Manuel J. Rodr\u00edguez Rechi (@Manuel J. Rodr\u00edguez Rechi) 1584223989
In January in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak is believed to have begun, residents chanted "jiayou," or "keep up the fight," for the city and its people.
Spanish people under lockdown have also taken time every day to celebrate the efforts of health professionals in the country, as Chef Jose Andres shared on social media:
\u201cFrom a friend in Spain: \u201cSo, there was a call on social media today in Spain to go out to balconies and windows at 22:00 to give a huge ovation to thank and support hospital workers. It\u2019s 22:05 and I can hear the roar from the other side of the closed double glass windows.\u201d\u201d— Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s (@Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s) 1584224533
The unprecedented nature and threat of the coronavirus outbreak has led to "social distancing," or a self-imposed quarantine, in most countries in the world in order to slow the rate of infection. But such radical changes to everyday life can come with consequences to one's mental health and immune system, as the University of Washington's Center for the Science of Social Connection director Jonathan Kanter and university PhD psychology student Adam Kuczynski noted on Monday in an article for The Conversation.
"In times of stress and illness, being deprived of social connection can create more stress and illness," Kanter and Kucynski wrote.
By reaching out to one another with song and music, Italians--and others around the world--are seeking out human connection.
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Italians under lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak crisis have inspired people around the world by singing and creating music together from balconies despite not being able to leave their homes.
A montage video showing Italians serenading one another in high rise apartment buildings and playing music together was "a kind of triumph of spirit," as one Italy-centric Twitter account put it on Friday.
Videos have poured in from across Italy:
\u201cA whole Roman neighborhood singing a popular Italian song \u201cVolare\u201d from their balconies and waving at each other. An amazing flash mob to lift the spirit in these crazy times \u2764\ufe0f #Italy #coronavirus #forzaitalia #roma #flashmob #love\u201d— Jenna Vehvil\u00e4inen (@Jenna Vehvil\u00e4inen) 1584120049
Similar displays took place in Lebanon:
And in Spain, people took to balconies to clap and sing together:
\u201cMe llega este v\u00eddeo, desconozco el autor. \n\nSevillanas en la calle Cristo del Buen Fin. Esto s\u00f3lo puede pasar en Sevilla.\n\n\u00a1Grandeza de ciudad!\u201d— Manuel J. Rodr\u00edguez Rechi (@Manuel J. Rodr\u00edguez Rechi) 1584223989
In January in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak is believed to have begun, residents chanted "jiayou," or "keep up the fight," for the city and its people.
Spanish people under lockdown have also taken time every day to celebrate the efforts of health professionals in the country, as Chef Jose Andres shared on social media:
\u201cFrom a friend in Spain: \u201cSo, there was a call on social media today in Spain to go out to balconies and windows at 22:00 to give a huge ovation to thank and support hospital workers. It\u2019s 22:05 and I can hear the roar from the other side of the closed double glass windows.\u201d\u201d— Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s (@Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s) 1584224533
The unprecedented nature and threat of the coronavirus outbreak has led to "social distancing," or a self-imposed quarantine, in most countries in the world in order to slow the rate of infection. But such radical changes to everyday life can come with consequences to one's mental health and immune system, as the University of Washington's Center for the Science of Social Connection director Jonathan Kanter and university PhD psychology student Adam Kuczynski noted on Monday in an article for The Conversation.
"In times of stress and illness, being deprived of social connection can create more stress and illness," Kanter and Kucynski wrote.
By reaching out to one another with song and music, Italians--and others around the world--are seeking out human connection.
Italians under lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak crisis have inspired people around the world by singing and creating music together from balconies despite not being able to leave their homes.
A montage video showing Italians serenading one another in high rise apartment buildings and playing music together was "a kind of triumph of spirit," as one Italy-centric Twitter account put it on Friday.
Videos have poured in from across Italy:
\u201cA whole Roman neighborhood singing a popular Italian song \u201cVolare\u201d from their balconies and waving at each other. An amazing flash mob to lift the spirit in these crazy times \u2764\ufe0f #Italy #coronavirus #forzaitalia #roma #flashmob #love\u201d— Jenna Vehvil\u00e4inen (@Jenna Vehvil\u00e4inen) 1584120049
Similar displays took place in Lebanon:
And in Spain, people took to balconies to clap and sing together:
\u201cMe llega este v\u00eddeo, desconozco el autor. \n\nSevillanas en la calle Cristo del Buen Fin. Esto s\u00f3lo puede pasar en Sevilla.\n\n\u00a1Grandeza de ciudad!\u201d— Manuel J. Rodr\u00edguez Rechi (@Manuel J. Rodr\u00edguez Rechi) 1584223989
In January in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak is believed to have begun, residents chanted "jiayou," or "keep up the fight," for the city and its people.
Spanish people under lockdown have also taken time every day to celebrate the efforts of health professionals in the country, as Chef Jose Andres shared on social media:
\u201cFrom a friend in Spain: \u201cSo, there was a call on social media today in Spain to go out to balconies and windows at 22:00 to give a huge ovation to thank and support hospital workers. It\u2019s 22:05 and I can hear the roar from the other side of the closed double glass windows.\u201d\u201d— Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s (@Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s) 1584224533
The unprecedented nature and threat of the coronavirus outbreak has led to "social distancing," or a self-imposed quarantine, in most countries in the world in order to slow the rate of infection. But such radical changes to everyday life can come with consequences to one's mental health and immune system, as the University of Washington's Center for the Science of Social Connection director Jonathan Kanter and university PhD psychology student Adam Kuczynski noted on Monday in an article for The Conversation.
"In times of stress and illness, being deprived of social connection can create more stress and illness," Kanter and Kucynski wrote.
By reaching out to one another with song and music, Italians--and others around the world--are seeking out human connection.
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