Intercultural, International and Local Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy and in the World

The first half of the year 2020 has been full of unique events. Starting from the potential declaration of World War III, to a global pandemic, to the SpaceX rocket launch and many more. However, while most of them, like the declarations of war, have been just online jokes or suppositions stemming from news and reports, the one event that deeply affected all of the world’s countries, directly or not, has been the COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic. This pandemic, which was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, has without a doubt changed the local and intercultural relationships around the globe for at least the foreseeable future, if not for more. In this essay, I am going to analyse some of these changes and repercussions, paying extra attention to those that occurred in Italy.