Abstract
Italy has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a proportionately high number of infections, and even higher mortality rate, due to the large number of elderly people (22.7 percent of the residents being over 65 years, the highest percentage in Europe). As of 30 April 2021, in a population of 60.35 million, 4,044,762 had been infected, with 121,177 casualties. The impact was extremely uneven among Italy’s regions in the “first wave” (February-June 2020), with the overwhelming majority of cases being concentrated in just a handful of regions in the north. These areas are the more industrialized parts of Italy and hence more exposed to trade with foreign nations. In the “second wave,” that started in October 2020, the distribution of the infection was far more uniform.
Italy was the first European country to be hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the first to impose a strict lockdown. After the first, dramatic moments in March and April 2020, it managed to keep the contagion under control until the second wave which struck in the fall and the winter. On January 31, 2020, far ahead of any other European country, a state of emergency was declared by the national government for a period of six months, which was subsequently prolonged for additional periods of six months.
This article describes the institutional and political framework and the measures put in place at the national (state) and the subnational (regional) level to confront this public health emergency, the developments related to territorial conflicts and security challenges raised or amplified by the pandemic, and the main consequences for the country’s territorial organization and the overall national security policy and the role of the armed forces.