Facing the Pandemic at Its Early Stages

He does not come from a military family, and a career in uniform was not even a dream of his childhood. He was simply struck by lightning on the road to Damascus or, rather, Moncalieri, where, with the rank of comssioned lieutenant, he did his conscription service. Marco Turrini, class of 1995 Bocconi graduate in Business Administration, has been at the head of the Abano Terme Carabinieri command since 2016, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Under his command's jurisdiction falls the municipality of Vo' Euganeo, the small town in the Veneto region which made headlines for recording the first Italian fatality due to Covid19 in Italy on 21 February, and was immediately put under total lockdown. The virus is a sneaky enemy, in certain ways a tougher one to deal with with respect to the more conventional foes a carabinieri officer must face. These include in the course of his career positions of responsibility in sensitive places like Expo Milan, "with all the events that required strict security measures, or supervising the security retinue of the Italian presidency of the EU". He has also had investigative duties, "where I dealt with seizures of criminal assets, putting to use the educational background I got at the University".

The coronavirus was something different. "The carabinieri station became in all respects the town hub, the one to which everyone in Vo' turned to solve problems that had been trivial in normal times but became insurmountable during the quarantine," explains Turrini, who has about 150 men and 12 stations under his command. "Like, for example, the girl who had forgotten her school books at her grandparents and could not go back to pick them up". A period in which it was important to ensure that no one went outside their homes but at the same time guarateeing the survival of the town, "managing the arrival of basic necessities and the mobility of health personnel. The job was possible thanks to the organization that distinguishes the Carabinieri corps but also to the civic sense of villagers, who had to go through not one, but two lockdowns, because when the quarantine of Vo' ended on March 8, the whole Region was shut down". In order for things not to spin out of control in such situations, it is essential to know how to take quick decisions and ensure a well-functioning chain of command, but this was not enough: "A fundamental aspect is having a comprehensive knowledge of the local territory. I am from Veneto and this has helped me, but in every place I was sent to I always tried to immerse myself in the local reality as if I were a local. In my job, it helps a lot. "

The darkest period has passed; now that recovery has started the problems change but they do not diminish, because only if we do things properly we can avoid the return of the virus. And also in this phase the role of the carabinieri (and other law enforcement agencies) will be very important. "Crime, which practically went down to zero during the lockdown, will grow back," continues the officer, "but above all we will have to ensure that the resumption of economic activity takes place according to public health rules. Abano Terme is one of the most renowned spas in the world, with many international tourists coming. Our task will be to guarantee everyone's safety, by acting with a lot of common sense and favoring education over sanction. These people have already suffered a lot in terms of human loss and economic damage. We want to help the community find a measure of serenity".