As news leaks that a quarter of Italy's population are to be put into quarantine, Puglia's President Michele Emiliano issued a dramatic appeal urging those trying to escape the quarantine zone, “Don't come to Puglia, go back.” He urges “Get off at the first train station, don’t take planes to Bari and Brindisi, go back by car, get off the bus at the next stop,” he wrote, mostly addressing people from the region who live in the north.

“Do not bring the Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia epidemic to your Puglia. You are carrying the virus into the lungs of your brothers and sisters, your grandparents, uncles, cousins and parents.”

With our guest Guiseppe we consider the impact of covid-19 on  day-to-day life in Italy, Europe's worst hit country, and how it affects life in Puglia - currently outside the quarantine zone.

This episode was recorded on 8 March 2020, the day that Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte announced the quarantine.