"Who can put, who can't take"

I have a dear friend, a lovely Italian woman who lives in Milan, Italy. We've been talking about her life under the pandemic lock down. This morning she shared this with me.

"A lot of people lose their jobs and can't even eat anymore. At a certain point, from a building in Via Santa Chiara in Naples (southern Italy is much less economically strong than the north) a "panaro" is dropped.  Yes, that woven basket that once served to trade, especially in the alleys.  Its name comes from the Latin panarum and indicates a basket in which to put the bread. It is from this word that the Italian noun "paniere" was born. We are talking about an atavistic Neapolitan tradition, which in the years of disposable, shopping centers and e-commerce has almost completely disappeared. Two guys dropped a panaro out the window with a paper with these words “chi può metta, chi non può prenda” (Who can put, who can’t take), reviving a famous phrase by Giuseppe Moscati, the holy doctor who had dedicated an entire existence to the poor of the Neapolitan historical centre: this phrase was written on Moscati's hat, left at the entrance of his house, where he often studied for the poor without charging them."

Thankfully, my friend and her parents are safe and well. They live apart for safety and only go out for groceries. Two things my friend says she really misses -- going to her hair stylist and going for scooter rides in the countryside.

I was supposed to go to Italy in May/June. Of course, the airline doesn't want to refund my ticket to Milan. My friend wrote this a couple of days ago when I told her.

"Stay aware from here please, the situation is serious and all this won't be over in two, three months... for sure."