An Italian town’s all-new way of social distancing

As you must have read by now, Italy is slowly opening up and coming out of its lockdown. After a harrowing battle with the COVID-19 pandemic, Italians are looking forward to better days. But social distancing is one of the key ways for them to go into this new phase. Recent reports suggest that the Piazza Giotto in Vicchio town near Florence has taken a major step towards implementing social distancing.
The Piazza Giotto has installed something called StoDistante that has been created by Caret Studio. The installation is basically a visual representation, which helps people understand social distancing as per guidelines issued by the authorities in Tuscany.
According to the current rules in Italy, everyone is expected to maintain 1.8 m of social distance in public places. So, what Caret Studio has done in Piazza Giotto is that they have laid out an artwork of white squares, which guide citizens and visitors to maintain the desired social distance. Thus allowing them to remain safe in public spaces.

The term StoDistante translates to I’m keeping my distance, and can be seen in the white squares painted on the Piazza Giotto’s cobblestones. The installation has brought great joy for children too, as they have turned it into their playground where they can play their games in a responsible, socially distant manner. While the older folks can be seen catching up with each other while standing on their particular squares. It is a new world for sure.
The squares that have been painted here are all removable, perhaps giving a bit of hope to the town that things could go back to how they once were. When that day arrives, these squares can be easily removed, and, with it, will go all traces of this horrific time.