"Noah's Violin", a giant floating violin by Venetian sculptor Livio De Marchi, journeyed through Venice's Grand Canal on Saturday. De Marchi, who has sent many wooden works into the water, came up with the idea during last year's pandemic lockdown. Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
People demonstrate against Italy's "green pass" on Saturday in Rome. Stefano Montesi/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte replies to questions ahead of a confidence vote last week at the Senate at Palazzo Madama in Rome. Conte handed in his resignation Tuesday. Yara Nardi/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A COVID-19 patient lies in a hospital bed at Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital, in Bergamo, Italy, in April. Prosecutors are investigating whether regional or national authorities mismanaged the response to the coronavirus as it quickly spread through northern Italy. Claudio Furlan/AP hide caption
Pedestrians in face masks pass a mural in Naples depicting the city's patron saint, St. Gennaro, in a face mask too. Italy has set a timeline for lifting its strict coronavirus travel restrictions, after its outbreak overwhelmed medical centers across the country earlier this year. Carlo Hermann/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Commuters crowd Cadorna train station in Milan on Monday. Italy has begun stirring again, after a nearly two-month coronavirus shutdown, as restrictions on movement ease. Claudio Furlan/AP hide caption
A Senegalese migrant collects oranges on the plain of Rosarno and San Ferdinando in Calabria, Italy, on Feb. 6. The lockdown countries imposed to stop the coronavirus pandemic have cut off the usual flow of seasonal farmworkers. Alfonso Di Vicenzo/LightRocket via Getty hide caption
Pandemics like the coronavirus "serve like looking glasses" that reflect society's vulnerabilities, author and Yale medical historian Frank Snowden says. Agence Photographique BSIP/Getty Images hide caption
A technician sets up a livestream in Rome's empty Santa Maria Assunta in Cielo church on Sunday. Italy's prime minister has announced a gradual ending of restrictions in the hard-hit country. Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images hide caption
A resident talks on the phone while walking in Jiangtan park after its reopening in March in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. The new coronavirus pandemic felt thousands of miles away, until it didn't. As cases in the U.S. skyrocketed, many noticed a shift — from watching the headlines, to watching what we touch. Getty Images hide caption
A large screen displays guidance about COVID-19 at a sparsely populated Times Square in New York City on Friday. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered all nonessential businesses to close by Sunday. John Minchillo/AP hide caption
The obituaries section of local newspaper Eco di Bergamo stretched several pages long earlier this week at the heart of the hardest-hit province in Italy's hardest-hit region of Lombardy. Luca Bruno/AP hide caption
A patient in a biocontainment unit is carried on a stretcher from an ambulance at the Columbus Covid 2 Hospital in Rome, on Tuesday. Italy's health system is straining to keep up with quickly rising coronavirus cases. Alessandra Tarantino/AP hide caption
In normal times the pubs and cafes of Piazza Trilussa are the heart of Roman nightlife. Now all is shuttered; the rental bike stand is full and the only sound is the waterfall in the fountain. Sylvia Poggioli/NPR hide caption