Epidemic/pandemic narratives are social and cultural processes and therefore are instrumental in shaping and justifying pathways of responses at institutional level, and also in understanding people’s responses and behaviours during disease outbreaks. However, attention is very rarely given to the narratives of young people who, during the COVID-19 pandemic have been implicated from the start. The paper examines the pandemic narratives of a group of students of a Vocational Training Centre in Triest during the first lock-down (March-May 2020). The findings indicate how the students re-worked the official narratives, creating a multi-layered interpretation of the pandemic which made them revaluate many things that were previously taken for granted. The research also highlights the need of a clearer and more coherent communication from the media and the government, to avoid dangerous behaviours that could invalidate the preventive measures taken to limit the spread of the virus.
