2 Euro Proof

Italy was one of the first European states to be extensively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2020, larger outbreaks occurred primarily in Lombardei and parts of Venetiens. Hospitals in northern Italy had to admit numerous people with severe respiratory illnesses within a short period of time. The situation was particularly tense in the province of Bergamo. In March, the restrictions initially imposed regionally were extended to the entire country; schools, shops and many businesses remained closed, and freedom of movement was severely restricted.

The pandemic presented the Italian Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, the state healthcare system, with organisational and staffing problems. Although medical care is publicly provided nationwide, it is largely organised regionally. As a result, equipment, capacities and crisis responses differed between the regions. In severely affected areas, additional intensive-care beds had to be established, wards converted and staff deployed from other fields. In addition to hospital employees, emergency services, general practitioners’ practices, laboratories, pharmacies and elder-care facilities were involved in providing care.

At the beginning of the pandemic, many places lacked experience with the new disease, sufficient testing facilities and, in some cases, protective equipment. Healthcare workers were exposed to an increased risk of infection through close contact with infected people. Numerous members of the medical professions became ill themselves; some of them died. At the same time, under visiting restrictions, they often had to facilitate communication between seriously ill people and their families.

During the lockdown, various public forms of thanks and solidarity emerged in Italy. These included applause from balconies, banners and messages of thanks. The 2021 coin issue took up this social response while the pandemic was still ongoing. Unlike many commemorative coins, it therefore does not commemorate a historical anniversary, but rather a crisis that had occurred immediately beforehand and had not yet ended. As a circulating coin, it addressed this expression of thanks to the entire population.