Plague almost wiped out the Italian village of Nembro. Death has returned with Covid-19
- Town risks going down in history as having the highest percentage of victims in the country’s coronavirus outbreak
- Of Nembro’s five priests, tending to 11,500 residents, four fell ill recently with only one left standing
On March 7 in Nembro, the death bells stopped tolling.
“We decided not to ring them any more since that Saturday, the day of the four funerals. It would have meant that the whole day would be filled with the sound of the death knell, and this would have caused untold anguish for the entire community. We thought it was best to just let things be.”
The small Italian town of Nembro, with its 11,500 residents and numerous churches, all under a single parish, is tended by five priests. Four were taken ill, with only one left standing: the youngest, 40-year-old Don Matteo Cella.
Nembro, a small village east of Bergamo in the country’s Lombardy region, risks going from being a headline to going down in history as a town with the highest percentage of victims in the country’s coronavirus outbreak. History has a tendency to repeat itself – the 1630 plague wiped out nearly three-quarters of the town's 2,700 inhabitants. Only 744 lived to tell the tale.
Last year, 120 people died in Nembro, an average of 10 a month. Recently, 70 died injust 12 days.
