But one small town in the country's north says it is doing surprisingly well.
Vo, in the region of Veneto, is right in the middle of what Italy is calling its coronavirus red zone.
But local officials say there hasn't been a new case of COVID-19 there since March 13.
The town had the first confirmed COVID-19-related death in Italy — a 78-year-old man on February 23.
The town swung into action — and its measures appear to be working.
What did Vo do?
Researchers from the University of Padua, along with Veneto regional officials and the Red Cross, decided to test all residents for COVID-19.
Around 3,300 people were tested, even if they had no symptoms.
"We tested everybody," Andrea Crisanti, professor of microbiology at the University of Padua, told the ABC's The World Today.
Nearly 3 per cent — or 89 Vo residents — were infected with COVID-19.
Even more alarming for Professor Crisanti and his colleagues was that many of the patients had no symptoms.
Professor Crisanti said Italian health authorities did not seem concerned by Vo's infection rate.
So the town took charge.
Vo put all COVID-19 patients in lockdown
Every Vo resident who tested positive for the virus was put in quarantine in their homes.
...
After two weeks of quarantine, the researchers carried out another round of mass testing in Vo.
The rate of COVID-19 infection had dropped from nearly 3 per cent to 0.41 per cent.
