COVID-19 pandemic in Italy - Wikipedia The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).. The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2020, when two Chinese tourists in Rome tested positive for the virus. One week later an Italian man repatriated to Italy from the city of Wuhan, …