Italy was under lockdown since late March until 18th May, most of the people had to stay at home and most of the activities were closed.Someone was still working though. We all know the wonderful job doctors and nurses are doing in the hospitals, but there is someone else who is working hard at night, trying to get some food on Italian plates.
What’s behind that? How does the supply chain work? How did it change, because fo the COVID 19 crisis?
I went to Mercafir, the agrifood market based in Florence, and I documented how they manage all their operations, just a few days before Easter. They get products from all over Italy (lemons from Sicily, for instance) and they distribute them to Florentine and Tuscan supermarkets and local grocery shops.
Truck drivers are alone, at night, along the highways. They can’t get off their truck when they get to Mercafir. They can’t have any human contact.
People wear masks in their offices. Gloves also, sometimes.Workers must disinfect all the area of the markets before the food arrives, they must work keeping the distance between them, everything they do now is much more complicated but with a higher aim: provide safe food to Italian families.