Gyms and pools, along with museums are closed and schools as well. Events have been canceled in many towns, regardless of infections, suddenly there is more time for hobbies and activities that were normally pushed aside.

Coronavirus is in Italy for a week already. Many events have been cancelled, most notably the Venice Carnevale closing festivities. The influx of tourists was low already in any case.

It look like a curfew, but not a bad thing. There are more people out running, and children at play. Bars are still open thankfully, so it is nicer than before to see so many people meeting for socialization.

There was a bit of a run to get food from supermarkets. Pasta was almost completely gone from the shelves, except a type of pasta: Penne lisce!

So we found out that Penne Lisce are less popular than the ribbed type.

But why do we use them so little? Driven by the desire to collect as much sauce as possible, we usually rely on the dear old penne rigate, forgetting how perfect they are to prepare some dishes.

However, the dejected penne lisce got sudden unexpected publicity; and there are quite a number of good recipes to cook and enjoy them:

Penne with Saffron for example; or when cooked in the oven—apparently more suitable than the ribbed ones—for a good timballo for example. Or like I just did with salmon, they are delicious!