As we have reached the 51t day of our lockdown status here in Milan, Italy I have decided to give our friends and followers an idea of how things have evolved in these last 6 weeks at the Chiesi-Beltran household. As most of you know this Italian Lifestyle Blog is our platform on which we express our thoughts and love for this beautiful country that is Italy. You can read a bit more of the people involved since we started back in the Summer of 2014 here at this link

As most of the people we know around the world the arrival of this virus has affected everyone’s life in one way or another: from major health concerns plus the economical impact on our pocketbooks this one comes right up there with something that at least I have personally not come across in my 60 years on planet Earth.

From seeing the images of our empty cities on the news along with information on the web to hearing accounts from friends and family of which direction this might take us it becomes quite hard to dispense optimism and empathy but still….we maintain a positive outlook
and try our best to keep a level of calm which we clearly know is hard to do based on a month (plus or minus) of lockdown.

But now for the positive stuff that has come out of all of this. Human beings need to have a sense of communication that before all of this had somehow gone lost in the crazy and production-based society we live in. Betti and I find ourselves with extra time to explore all those things and ideas that before were not possible to envision or develop. We tend to leave the Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other distratcions as an evening only option and somehow now look at all of it with a different eye. In fact, Betti would rather prefer to watch documentaries on subject matter which is culturally enlighting instead of a bizarre shows such as the likes of Tiger Tail or similar.

From a work standpoint of view, we are fortunate in the sense that my work revolves around the digital transformation of companies and even if Betti is a make-up artist and for now fashion is on hold she is teaching remotely to the diverse schools that she is involved in and working on a new project that revolves around Make-up. I am blessed to be married to such a talented person!

Our daughter Zoe is also in the house and being a 25 year old woman we were concerned that she would go in a downward path being locked up for so long but to our surprise, she is upbeat and working on her career as a photographer and digital entrepreneur. We are quite impressed!

Another beautiful thing that has come out of all of this is that we have established a close relationship with our neighbors which has evolved towards the idea of having a weekly Saturday dinner party which we do on the landing of the fifth floor between both apartments placing a plant in between and keeping a safe distance but setting up candles and cooking phenomenal Italian Food. Tonight is Saturday so we are already preparing for what we end up dreaming about all week long: la cenetta con il vicini!

Another interesting thing that has occurred in this period is that we have decided with the advance of the days and then the weeks to tune out from the news which in the end only brings negative vibes to the whole equation. Better to concentrate on positive stuff and learn or polish new skills related to both our professions.

In regards to our Casa Chiesi project even if the whole travel scene here in Italy has come to a grinding stop we are still writing and posting material about our love per Italia! Once things slowly pick up we will be back on the beaten path traveling and showing great sites, food, art, history, and traditions.

To all our dear friends and followers big hugs and stay as healthy and safe as possible.

Baci e abracci a tutti

Nazim

[socialWarfare]