After 11 p.m., Milan is a ghost town. The piazzas are empty, the streets dark and quiet. In this photo, A street cleaning vehicle is seen washing the square in front of the Duomo gothic cathedral, in Milan, northern Italy. (Image: AP)
The silence is broken by the occasional rumble of a bus, streetcar or taxi, gliding through the night with few or no passengers. (Image: AP)
Since an 11 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew took effect Thursday (October 22), people can only move around during those hours for reasons of work, health or necessity. (Image: AP)
The curfew is among a raft of measures that authorities hope will stem the resurgence of COVID-19 in a part of the world that suffered severely early in the pandemic. (Image: AP)
Milan, Italy’s business hub and the capital of the wealthy Lombardy region, has seen the sharpest rise in infections as the coronavirus once again is spreading out of control. (Image: AP)
Further restrictions are set to take effect on October 26. The Italian government is trying to prevent a repeat of the crisis the country experienced in the spring, when more than 30,000 people died and the hospitals at one point had more than 4,000 COVID-19 patients in intensive care. (Image: AP)
A police car follows a tram streetcar running along an empty street by the La Scala theater, in Milan. (Image: AP)
That number dwindled to double digits in the summer. In its latest update, the Health Ministry reported that more than 1,127 COVID-19 patients were in ICUs across Italy, including 213 in Lombardy. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
A military vehicle drives past La Scala opera theater in Milan, Italy. (Image: AP)
The nation’s confirmed death toll, the second-highest in Europe after Britain’s, rose to 37,210 with the deaths of another 151 people. (Image: AP)
The entrance of the Piccolo theater is shut, in Milan, Italy. (Image: AP)
A streetcar driver is reflected in a mirror as he drives around Milan, Italy. (Image: AP)
The Vittorio Emanuele II arcarde is deserted, in Milan, Italy. (Image: AP)
An empty street in front of La Scala opera house is lit by a red traffic light in Milan, Italy. (Image: AP)
An empty street is lit by street lights in Milan, Italy. (Image: AP)