The divorce rate in Italy increased by 60% in 2020, according to Italy’s National Divorce Association. “The requests for separation have increased a lot, mainly due to forced coexistence,” the association’s president, family laywer Matteo Santini told Sky TG 24. “Forced coexistence” — that’s COVID-19, of course. In our strange reality, we react to these headlines as if they were somehow normal.

Behind the headlines, however, there are so many lives that are affected by these numbers. It’s not just the couples directly involved that have to bear the consequences of these separations (due to COVID and to Italy’s changing attitude to marriage).