Some of Italy’s Covid rules are eased as of today

This applies to regions, which are yellow-coded in the country’s system

Infection rates are going down in most of Italy, so the authorities have decided to start easing certain restriction as of today 26 April. This, however, will only apply to the yellow regions (which are the majority) in the country’s tiered system that shows the Covid severity in different parts.

Five regions still remain under ‘orange’ zone rules (these are Basilicata, Calabria, Puglia, Sicily and Valle d’Aosta) and one is in the red zone (Sardinia), so people living in these will not see any easing of restrictions.

What will change?

All the rest of Italy, which basically the central and northern parts of the country, can start looking forward to a return of some degree of normality in their lives, even if the 10pm-5am curfew will remain in place for the whole country.

Restaurants, bars, cafes and gelaterias will be open for customers, and not only for takeaways, as it was until now. However, they will only be able to welcome customers if they provide outdoor sitting places and close by 10 pm because of the curfew.

Schools and universities will resume in-person teaching, and in this case, this change will also affect orange-coded regions.

Outdoor sports can take place freely and non-essential shops can also stay open. Cinema and theatres can operate at a 50% capacity, however, if their shows and performances take place outdoors then no such limit will be applied.

People can also now travel freely between yellow zones, even for non-essential purposes and provided they do it outside of curfew hours. As for red and orange zones, it will be possible to travel to and from them if using the new travel pass that is yet to be introduced by the government.

There is more optimism to be had in the near future, as beaches and swimming pools are expected to reopen in mid-May and fitness centres on 1 June.