Covid-19 in Italy: Social Behavior and Governmental Policies

Italy faced a situation of deep uncertainty in which both institutional decision makers and laypeople were among the first in the Western world to respond to COVID-19 and trying to recover from it. This status of being first in responding to COVID-19 created a context of uncertainty concerning which protective actions the government should recommend and people should undertake. Uncertainty also stemmed from the gradualness with which knowledge unfolded regarding how the virus spreads and how long it remains on surfaces. Despite some initial delay in responding to the emergency, the Italian government implemented a nationwide lockdown which created unintended consequences for vulnerable populations and other entities such as small businesses, women, the elderly, and precarious workers.

Drawing on data surveys conducted during the first transition between a phase of lockdown and staged reopening, this book examines people's risk perception and perceived trustworthiness of sources and channels of information together with the adoption of protective behaviors, and their support for policies in light to their cultural worldviews. The book also reports on people's reflections on a post COVID-19 foreseeable future and concludes with suggestions for research, policy, and practice. The book elaborates and tests some aspects of a classic risk communication and protective behavior model such as the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) in the Italian context, and introduces the concepts of ontological in/security as an explanatory change factor.