The Best Day Of My Life

In Italy, between March and April 2020, 17,000 marriages have been canceled and another 50,000 should be postponed between May and June of the same year. A business of around 40 billion euros per year is at risk, including clothes, furnishings, favors, flowers and various services. The Decree of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (in Italy), which entered into force on March 8, 2020, suspended on a preventive level on the entire national territory, until Friday April 3, 2020, “civil and religious ceremonies, including the funeral”.

From 18 May 2020, the churches have been reopened to the faithful with the obligation to comply with various security measures. The parish priests will determine, for each church, the maximum number of people that can be accepted. The entrances and exits, as far as possible, will be separated and the doors will remain open to prevent, among other things, people from touching the handles. At the entrance, the faithful will find the stoups empty, the dispensers of disinfectant liquid full and the masks will be mandatory.

In this surreal atmosphere, however, there are those who have decided to get married, sacrificing the opportunity to celebrate and having to completely rearrange their wedding day. So the church appeared incredibly empty, hugs were banned, if not between members of the same family, and the classic wedding party turned into a simple family lunch.

Despite all the difficulties of the case and the feeling of living a clear historical moment, the wedding day, for the newlyweds, will always remain:

“the best day of my life“.

This work is part of permanent archive on the coronavirus pandemic The Covid-19 Visual Project. A Time of Distance. conceived and produced by Cortona On The Move in partnership with Intesa Sanpaolo.