ROME: In Italy, it seems, true love will always find a way — even in the time of coronavirus.

A Facebook post has gone viral after a male nurse in a southern hospital proposed to his girlfriend with the big question scrawled on the back of his head-to-toe protective clothing.

In the post, which had received over 500 “likes” by Saturday, Giuseppe Pungente shared a photo of himself in a corridor of the respiratory ward of the Ostuni hospital in Puglia, his back turned to the camera. “Carmeli, do you want to marry me?” was the message written on the back of Pungente’s gown, with a “Yes” and “No” underneath.

In his New Year’s post, Pungente wrote that, as a nurse “in the front line in the fight against the virus” who had recovered himself from Covid-19, “I’ve developed the idea that real life is made of small and simple things....” “Such as close friends, birth family and the one of the future, together with you, Carmen Pinto.” The sixteenth message below his photograph was Pinto responding “YESSSSSSSSS” followed by seven heart emojis.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2021