The weirdest seven days of my life in Coronaland

The lines between fact and fantasy blur for Carl Cederström as he comes face to face with the reality of the outbreak of Covid-19 on the abandoned streets of Florence

Florence's Basilica di Santa Croce looms over the abandoned Piazza as virus fears keep tourists away (Carl Cederström)

On the evening flight from Amsterdam to Florence, the passengers are sitting far apart and breathing in masks and rubbing their hands with disinfectant. The cabin is quiet and there is something sinister in the air. I am gripped by a strange feeling that we are travelling backwards through the night.

When I book the trip, only a few cases of the coronavirus have been reported in Italy On the day I travel, several hundred people have fallen ill and the first deaths have been confirmed.

“Florence is far from the affected areas,” I say when people of the worrying kind ask if I really should go. Before we leave the airport, two men in space suits are taking our temp. On the way to the hotel, the taxi driver explains that all talk about the coronavirus is exaggerated: “Do you know how many people die from the flu every year?”