FWIW, at the moment it's only lombardy's health system which is collapsing, because most of the victims are concentrated there and the growth rate there was _much_ faster because the lock down was only imposed late.

The growth rate is the same in other regions but delayed, and there is some hope that the rest of the country might be able to cope with it better if the lock down measures are effective.

Hopefully. But the health care system in Lombardia has to be the best or at the top of entire the country. Southern Italy will struggle with fewer cases.

Worse still, Italy has one of the better healthcare systems. This doesn't bode well for the rest of Europe.

Well Lombardy does (number 2 in the regions of the EU). I believe that some Italian commentators have said that one of the biggest reasons for the total country lockdown was that the health systems of Southern Italy were much much worse than Lombardy, and would definitely not be able to cope.