Eager visitors queue to visit reopened Rome museum

After over a year of lockdowns and restrictions, Italy is cautiously opening up.

On Monday museums opened their doors, with anti-COVID measures in place such as restricted numbers and temperature checks.

At Rome's Capitoline Museum eager visitors were waiting for opening time to get their digital tickets and be the first inside.

Some said the absence of the usual crowds made the experience that more special.

Government-ordered restrictions imposed ahead of Easter holidays were lifted in regions where COVID-19 transmission rates, ICU bed capacity and other pandemic parameters have sufficiently improved.

Restaurants in many parts of the country are allowed to serve at tables outdoors, 70-percent of high school students are returning to the classroom, and even movie theaters are allowed to open with spectators seated one metre apart.

Italy is one of the worst-hit countries in the world with a total number of coronavirus deaths of nearly 120,000, second after the UK in Europe.

To date there have been nearly 4 million recorded cases of the virus in Italy yet a recent downturn in the spread, as the vaccine distribution ramps up, has given the authorities the confidence to allow a gradual reopening.

Over 5.2 million people in Italy have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.