Italy’s rugby heartland at the epicentre of coronavirus ‘red zones’

A man wearing a protective mask looks up as he walks along the Vittorio Emanuele Gallery shopping arcade in Milan. Authorities have decided to re-open schools and museums in some of the less areas less hard-hit by the coronavirus outbreak, in which Italy has the most cases outside of Asia. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

The heartland of Italian rugby is an extended triangle that runs from Treviso, in the East near Venice, over to Brescia and towards Milan in the West, and then South to the River Po and Parma. By an unfortunate coincidence, this triangle also contains the two areas which have been worst hit by the new coronavirus epidemic — the so-called “red zones” near Lodi and Padua, which have been sealed off over the past week.