FORT WORTH, Texas — When WFAA first spoke to Flaminia Chapman on March 12, 2020, it was, in a way, like talking to someone in the future.
"I think if you could start working from home and start limiting your exposure, I think it'd be helpful," she said in March 2020. "It's crazy."
Her advice was rooted in experience; Italy, where the Fort Worth native lives, was on strict lockdown because of COVID-19. It was a concept that wasn't totally on Texans' radars yet.
Italy experienced some of the starkest COVID conditions early on in the pandemic.
Last year, Chapman described what the resulting restrictions were like to WFAA .
"You're only allowed to leave the house for three reasons: doctor's visits, to buy essential items…or for work," she said then, adding that if you did leave the house, you needed a police form.
"We were just a few weeks ahead of the rest of the world," Chapman said Thursday via Zoom from her home in Rome. "Everybody watched Italy with horror. What's Italy going through?"
Since then, the world has caught up to Italy. Chapman said she and her family have adjusted to current restrictions in Rome which, she said, provide for a somewhat normal life, with some exceptions.
"There's a national mask mandate," she said. "Any time you leave the house, not just indoors."
"Restaurants close at 6pm," Chapman added. "There's no in-person evening dining. And the weekends shopping malls -- and even IKEA -- is closed on the weekends."
Her family's been able to return to landmarks like the Coliseum and the Spanish Steps. But Chapman said there's talk right now of stricter measures returning again as they head into Easter.
"Right now Italy's going through another wave," she said.
Chapman and her family have remained healthy, however she and her husband haven't worked in more than a year. They're both in the tourism industry.
"People will come and I can't wait," she said of the eventual return to tourism. "I think people need travel in their lives and Italy brings joy."