“all This was full of coffins, 132 pieces were here!” Father Marco Berga Melli spreads his arms and points to the interior of the chapel. Earlier on the phone he sounded tired, now, the 66-Year-old is full of energy. He has much to tell and little time. In Berga Mellis chapel benches are now back – when most of the places cordoned off and warning notices are fitted. Necessary, these measures probably are not. Many Church-goers do not dare even back here.
the extent of the Corona-crisis in this Region is at the main cemetery of Bergamo particularly clear. Magnificent family tombs and mausoleums line the bright gravel paths. Near the entrance, stands out as an Area particularly. More than a hundred of the simplest of tombs, in a hurry built with wooden slats is limited. Most of them have no gravestone, but often just a laminated piece of paper with the name of the deceased on it. “These are the tombs of the Corona of the dead,” says Berga Melli.
crematoria overloaded – it started to smell
Of the more than 34,000 people have died across the country to the lung disease COVID-19, were more than 16,000 from the Lombardy region. Here in Bergamo there is hardly anyone who has not lost a relative or knows someone who has been infected with the Virus.
Also, father Berga Melli brought the Situation to its limits. After on 9. March has imposed a nationwide curfew, he had to stand by and watch as more and more coffins were lined up in his small chapel. The crematorium at the cemetery, no longer came up with the orders. The military, he says, picked each week, 50 to 60 coffins and brought them to the cremation to Florence, Bologna or Ferrara. Nevertheless, there were in the chapel every day. At the beginning, he had held a mass for the dead. Eventually, it was him, but not too much. “I got it to do with the fear, there, in a room with all the Corona-dead. After ten days it began to smell, and not only to the pine and fir trees in the cemetery,” he says.
Meanwhile, new graves are not for every day dug. In the city trying to get used to the new reality of life – a city that is visible, determined by the crisis. In Bergamo, a mask is mandatory – on the road, and even if you are sitting with another Person in the car. Cafes and Restaurants are re-opened, albeit with special hygiene measures. The dining cards are disposed of after each appointment and before a guest occupies all space, is measured in many Local first-grade fever.
Who is responsible for the crisis?
Even if many of us want nothing more than to return to her old life, there are some, which can not so easy to make more. One of them is Stefano Fusco is. The young man has founded together with his father in the organization “Noi Denunceremo” (We accuse). The group demands an answer, why at you in the regions of so many people had to die.
Stefano Fusco has lost his grandfather. In February, the 85 was treated in the Year after a mild stroke in the hospital. During the rehabilitation, he got fever and started to cough. He was tested positive for the Coronavirus, and died only a few days later. The Situation is particularly dramatic for his large had been mother, says Fusco. The family had to give her the message on the phone. The old woman remained with her pain alone. She was in quarantine.
a Few days after the death of his grandfather Stefano and his father founded the group “Noi Denunceremo”. With the Facebook page you wanted to help people, to have sat at home and alone with your grief had to be. Meanwhile, more than 60,000 people to exchange there. Most of the stories, says Stefano Fusco, had a recurring pattern.
“a Lot of people died alone at home, many were not included in the hospital until they were almost dead. You would have you can probably save if you had helped them earlier.” The Prosecutor’s office in Bergamo, has now launched investigations, “Noi Denunceremo” supports. Fusco sees the regional government the responsibility. They had a lot of slow to react and, for example, it failed to provide a restricted zone in the municipalities of Alzano Lombardo and Nembro set up, the two municipalities in Bergamo, which were the main source of infection in Italy.
Lega-man under pressure
, The head of the regional government in Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, not, however, is in the responsibility. He has his headquarters in a high-rise building in Milan’s city center. Of racial thought in the 38. Floor you can look over the borders of the most important economic metropolis of Italy. Profits were more important to him than the protection of the population. So, a frequent allegation is. The Lega politician, denies this. He was already at the beginning of March for a restricted zone of the municipalities concerned, he says, but the government in Rome have denied it. “I think we have really tried to give all the answers and to take all necessary measures in this really extraordinary Situation in which no one really knew much about the Virus.”
on a tour of the cemetery of Bergamo arrived father Berga Melli, in the meantime, in front of the crematorium. The plant is orphaned from the high of the last few months of operation, nothing more to see. He talks about the pain of the families and the uncertainty that many of the people charged here in Bergamo yet. Slowly but, he says, returns to the old life. It’ll quiet. Then he says goodbye and rushes with quick steps of it, past the pine trees, the edge of the road, hemming, back to his chapel. In front of the building, a hearse is waiting.
author: Max Zander (Bergamo)
*The article “Coronavirus in Italy: After the crisis, the question of blame comes” is published by Deutsche Welle. Contact with the executives here.
Deutsche Welle
