Milano, le storie d’amore più belle nate ai tempi del lockdown. by Elisabetta Andreis. ITA < ENG

https://milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/21_febbraio_11/07-milano-documentoacorriere-web-milano-ac6f844e-6c30-11eb-bd17-59a445633f5e.shtml

Milano, the greatest love stories born in the time of lockdown

In line to get tested, on the balcony, walking the dog: the new couples of the Airbnb competition. The capital of Lombardy was the most romantic city with 300 testimonies.

By Elisabetta Andreis

Love blossoming in the midst of lockdown. Marta and Lorenzo met while waiting in line to get tested in front of the San Giuseppe Hospital, Alberto and Fabio by participating in a webinar on graphic design, Sveva and Stefano by walking their dogs "at all hours", Beatrice and Michele by giving each other the Amuchina (famous hand sanitiser) and by eyeing at each other from their balconies.

Airbnb launched a competition inviting people to tell the greatest love stories that happened during the pandemic and Milano was the city that participated with the highest number of testimonies : over 300.

"There was a rarefied atmosphere, plenty of time to talk. Away from the office, from the frenetic rhythms, from the usual friends," reflects Marta C., mathematics teacher, who was dazzled by Lorenzo, a colleague in Latin at another high school.

They kept each other company during the endless hours of waiting for get tested and that's when it all started.

"So many couples have split up, it was a bit like we all took the opportunity to start from scratch and look within ourselves," says Alberto Schietti, 32, a designer for Dolce and Gabbana, who won the contest by telling about the love born with Fabio Pierro, 33, currently looking for a job.

"We found each other at a graphic design webinar, we were the only two who didn't have their cameras on. On the other hand, we wrote a lot on the class chat."

At the end of the session they exchanged email, but only that, not phone numbers. "The lockdown taught us the expectation of pleasure, it wasn't until June that we agreed to meet." Classic location, Piazza del Duomo. They, who had never seen each other before, recognised each other at first glance. They both arrived with a straw hat on, a symbol of the Japanese manga "One piece" which they talked about the night before.

Whereas, Sveva B., 23 years old, and Stefano Z., a little younger, met because taking the dogs out. If it had been up to them, they would have kept on shyly saying hello to each other from across the flowerbed, but the initiative came from the two dogs, Chanel and Nathan: "They were always getting tangled up with the leashes, in the end we get to enjoying it too and they hated us, we started to go back home after hours, and they were exhausted!", laughs Sveva.

Between Beatrice and Michele, 20 years old, the Amuchina acted as a go-between their love. On the 9th of April, her birthday, she hears the doorbell ring. It is the neighbour she often met at the pharmacy. He gave her Ffp2 masks (extremely rare in those days) and Amuchina, complete with a note: "I know you've been looking for them everywhere, but sometimes the precious things are just next door.