The Greatest Wealth Is Health

No convincing explanation was given so far about the criteria which government used in deciding what to allow and what to block in its national war on COVID-19. Whatever they may say, it’s a fact that artistic, cultural, social and recreational organisations were sacrificed at the altar of professional soccer, in fact dooming the great majority of non-profit institutions to financial failure. Of course, government ministers promised financial help to compensate damage caused by their daily and nightly decrees, but, as a matter of fact, they will provide financial support only to their fellow club members. As usual, as always. And it’s not a peculiarity of one rather than another — it’s a national custom, and it’s much more contagious than any virus. In such hard times, even innocent gatherings such an outdoor sports festival organised by a city council can transform itself into a street market run by loyal salesmen of the city councillors’ after-work leisure life. I discussed such a case a few days ago with an official in charge of the supervision, and I found no consolation in the fact that my interlocutor told me he never heard of the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”. It is not a question of pride, of course, but only wonder, as the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” contributed for over ten years — always for free — to the sports festival of Florence’s Quarter 2. Yet it is not a drama, for, as they say, in everyone’s memory, and no one’s memory.