| Exactly one year after it became the first Western country to go into lockdown, Italy is shutting down schools and shops. Again. In March 2020, in what then-Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called the country's "darkest hour," the nation was ordered to stay at home. Schools, stores, parks and most industrial plants were closed, all public events were canceled and Italians were banned from traveling without a business or health-related justification for two months. The drastic measures worked, and Italy's daily cases were cut in half. From early summer, people gradually got back to work, restaurants reopened and holidaymakers flocked to beaches. Now, with infections at a three-month high and total deaths over 100,000, Mario Draghi's new government has imposed new travel restrictions and closed schools, restaurants and retail stores in most of the country. Production plants and essential businesses remain open, but the pervasive feeling among Italians is that the nation is back at square one. So what went wrong? The primary reason: a sluggish vaccine rollout. Italy has been behind the curve on vaccinations compared with countries like the U.K. and Israel, thanks to delivery delays by the main suppliers and poor coordination at the regional level. The problems couldn't have come at a worse time: The more-contagious U.K. strain is spreading across the nation.  A vaccine center in Rome earlier this month. Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg A few weeks ago, a military general was appointed to coordinate the government's action on the pandemic and focus on speeding up the inoculation campaign. Italy is currently administering about 170,000 doses a day. Draghi, a former European Central Bank head with a reputation for technocratic efficiency, has pledged to triple that. To do so, the government will have to ensure that pharmaceutical companies step up vaccine deliveries, which have amounted to only about 8.9 million doses so far in a nation of more than 60 million. It will also need to improve local logistics. Until earlier this month, only about 70% of doses distributed had been used. Another reason for the relapse is that after being isolated for two months last summer, Italians started traveling again domestically, allowing the virus to reach areas, mostly in the south, that were virtually untouched by the first wave of contagion. The latest travel restrictions are an attempt to make sure something like that doesn't happen again.—Flavia Rotondi | 
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