The language of music is common to all generations and nations,” Gioachino Rossini, the virtuosic opera composer, once said. “It is understood by everybody, since it is understood with the heart.” In recent weeks, Italians have embraced the language of music as a means to communicate with their neighbors and endure the ravages of covid-19 as a collective.

At a time when the most important music halls in the country, from La Scala to La Fenice, have closed their doors to the public, citizens of all ages have used their own instruments, and their voices, to fill the silence of seclusion. Music has provided unity in times of division throughout history; now Italians are showing the world that, if only for a moment, it can also help them transcend the anxiety brought by a pandemic.