The silenced death knell

Lonely goodbye: A man touches the coffin of his mother during a funeral service in the closed cemetery of Seriate, near Nembro. Funerals are not allowed in Italy during the country’s lockdown. - AFP

ON March 7 in Nembro, the death bells stopped tolling: "We decided not to ring them anymore since that Saturday, the day of the four funerals. It would have meant that the whole day would be filled with the sound of the death knell, and this would have caused untold anguish for the entire community. We thought it was best to just let things be."

The small town of Nembro, with its 11,500 residents and numerous churches, all under a single parish, is tended by five priests. Four were taken ill, only one was left standing, the youngest: Don Matteo, 40 years old, originally from San Pellegrino Terme.