Two months after we were allowed to come in and film intensive care in Cremona and Monza, I am on a return visit. It now echoes empty in the halls, which were then filled with beds, hoses and deadly Italians. A very tired but happy doctor says that now, finally, anyone who needs intensive care can get it again. Then it was a hard fight over who would get the bed and respirator - who would get the chance to survive. Many were chosen to accommodate those with the best views. Now the machines are there superfluous, in a row, as a reminder of all those who fought to the death. Italy is no longer bleeding.

Responsibility will be required

But in Bergamo and Codogno I meet several with deep wounds that have not been able to heal. They tell of the anger that is only growing, about the need to put someone in charge of having their life partner or dad sorted out. Anger expresses that the country has moved on from the shock, towards a time when responsibility will be demanded. Before leaving the hospital, we enter a room with three patients. The survivors. They have all just been disconnected from their respirators. Emanuele turned 49 for the nearly three months he was anesthetized and fought against covid. It appears that the virus has gone hard for him.

The smile remains

But for the first time he can now talk, yes, even have fun and laugh. He is the most vivid person you can imagine. If the pictures from the last visit in March were mostly darkness, death, mortuary, grief and burial, then it is Emanuel's infectious smile and the disconnected respirators that remain from the return visit.