How quarantine has fed Italy’s addiction to body image

Home to a society obsessed with body image, Italy is undergoing an eating disorder crisis

Chiara Dorati in her scout uniform, summer 2019. Image credit: Chiara Dorati.

After restrictions put Italians in quarantine for almost three months in spring 2020, the country witnessed a surge in eating disorders. For those already diagnosed, many relapsed and some experienced worsened symptoms. But this comes as no surprise.

Born in Italy, I’ve grown up watching Italian TV programmes — like Striscia La Notizia, which parades bikini-clad girls in between bits of satirised national news — feed girls unrealistic body image standards.

Last summer brought a cascade of articles criticising the population, with some surveys highlighting the “2kg that Italians gained in lockdown”. But they’re honing in on the wrong issue.

“This disorder is a real bitch,” says Chiara Dorati, a 20-year-old student from Modena who was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa in 2018. For a while during lockdown, working out became something she looked forward to. “But with food,” she adds, “I still experience paranoia, and my mind often feels agitated.”

Having experienced the condition firsthand, recovering from it was challenging in a three-month-long lockdown, with an increased focus on cancelling out food intake with exercise.

As well as calorie-counting, we Italians are conditioned to put exercise on a pedestal, even placing it above eating or sleeping. When lockdown lifted for the first time on 4 May, the streets erupted with runners, cyclists, and dog-walkers. While the nation is known for its food and relaxed lifestyle, some Italians’ obsessive nature to be “snelli” (in good form) highlights a dark reality that only locals really come to know.

Exercise addiction and media pressure at the height of a pandemic are what fuelled the rise in eating disorders, and that’s not exclusive to Italy. Only when this is recognised will young women like Chiara truly stand a chance at recovery.