German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is flanked by Italian President Sergio Mattarella after visiting the Duomo gothic cathedral, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)MILAN – An Italian coronavirus survivor from Bergamo warmly thanked Germany’s visiting president on Thursday for lifesaving treatment he received in the eastern Germany city of Leipzig. Frank-Walter Steinmeier met medical personnel who treated coronavirus patients during his visit to Milan, the capital of hard-hit Lombardy. ‘’If I hadn’t gone to Germany, I would have died,’’ Perani told Steinmeier, as Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella looked on. Perani said though they didn’t have a common language, the medical personnel in Germany ‘’spoke with their eyes.

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, who had COVID-19, says the pandemic lockdown in his country made him feel humiliated and offended for depriving him of freedom. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)ROME Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, who had COVID-19, said the pandemic lockdown made him feel humiliated and offended by depriving him of his freedom to come and go as he wanted. Bocelli spoke at a panel Monday in a Senate conference room, where he was introduced by right-wing opposition leader Matteo Salvini, who has railed against the governments stringent measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Bocelli told the conference at the Senate that he resented not being able to leave his home even though he committed no crime and revealed, without providing details, that he violated that lockdown restriction. At the height of lockdown, Italians could only leave home to go to essential jobs, walk dogs or buy food or medicine.