Viral

Italians got the first piece of good news regarding coronavirus there in weeks -- but people are wisely still staying home ... and getting a little rallying going from their rooftops.

Check out this wild scene out of Liguria, Italy, where a couple of incredibly skilled people are literally playing a game of tennis from neighboring buildings, on the roofs no less. They're smacking the ball across what must be a good 15 feet or more between them.

Even crazier ... the ball is landing on each rooftop space as they go back and forth, without it dropping down below. Now, THAT'S talent ... and social distancing ingenuity, if we do say so ourselves. Granted, they could be on a regular court and be considered safe there too.

But, considering Italy, as a nation, is just now starting to ease their national lockdown -- which worked, BTW, as daily deaths and ICU patients are down for the first time in a long time this week -- we don't blame these two for going the extra mile to be apart for a match.

Talk about a Norman Rockwell painting idea come to life -- a parade of cars filled with hungry people in Miami ... smack dab in the middle of two of the city's ritziest hotels.

Check out this surreal scene down in Miami Beach, where a MILE-long line of cars were arranged in a giant U-curve in between the W Hotel and Setai Hotel -- two of MB's most high-end go-to spots for celebrity out-of-towners ... like Kim K, Justin Bieber and more.

The organizers -- made up of lifeguards and other volunteers -- set up shop in a parking lot bordering both hotels, and the line went all the way down the street and likely around the next block or two. As for the location ... it was probably more practical than commentary.

The main street that leads to the beachfront facilities is Collins Ave. -- and it's a long, straight shot for a good while (probably a few miles or so) before any major turns or weird corners. The folks there must've felt this would be the easiest way to get people in and out without causing too much of a traffic jam or taking up too many neighboring streets.

Still, whether they were trying to send a message or not ... the juxtaposition of desperate, poor families flocking to a food bank right next to a rich-person pit stop in the Sunshine State, should've been looked at a bit more. It's kinda bad optics ... but so be it.

Nuns in Spain are taking a break from the mundane, yet very essential, task of making sanitary masks ... with a full-court game of basketball!!!

At the convent of San Leandro in Sevilla, nuns have exchanged making their famous sweets for sewing much-needed masks, and when they need some time to get away and stretch their legs, they pick up a rock and shoot some hoops!

Ya gotta see the video ... these nuns know how to run and gun, or should we say, nun and gun. Seriously, the ball hardly touches the floor, you'd think they were coached by Paul Westhead.

It's kinda hard to tell which team is which, they're mostly wearing the same thing, but keep your eyes on the nun wearing white, she's dominating the paint like Pau Gasol.

Banksy's not letting coronavirus stifle his creative flow -- his out-of-this-world artwork is going strong in his own home ... but like he says, the missus probably ain't pleased.

The mysterious street artist -- who puts up WILD, often-times live, phantom art exhibits all over the world -- gave his followers a sneak-peek into his crib Wednesday with a little quarantine update ... clearly showing the master craftsman's been hard at work in the bathroom.

Check it out ... at first glance, you think you're looking at a bunch of animated rats making a vivid mess out of the John -- toilet paper unfurled, toothpaste splattered on the wall, brown gunk smeared across the toilet -- but it's just his latest homemade creation.

He even got some close-up shots so folks could soak in the detail he put into this. Per usual, it's incredibly intricate and looks like a scene out of a graphic novel or comic.

Banksy captioned it, "My wife hates it when I work from home." Can't blame her -- the place looks like a sty ... granted, it's mostly an optical illusion. Probably easy enough to clean up.

Looks like everyone's hunkered down these days -- even this guy.

Armie Hammer's potential stir-craziness is pretty evident from his fresh new haircut and mustache, which kinda scream ... "Wait'll they get a load of me!"

The "Call Me By Your Name" star just shared his new mane, and it evokes thoughts of a couple classic characters -- Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver" with a hint of Alex's menacing look in "A Clockwork Orange."

Armie fittingly captioned the maniacal looking shot of his new mohawk and handlebar mustache ... "Killing the game."

Of course, one could also see his mustache and be reminded of 'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic, or think of The Ultimate Warrior because of his outfit ... there's truly a lot going on here.

As we first reported, the coronavirus pandemic has more and more Americans deciding to cut their own hair at home. Armie's hammering that point home ... for better or worse.

Eight seniors in Florida caught the coronavirus from what they believe was their regularly scheduled poker games, and within weeks ... 3 of them were dead.

The tragic story comes out of South Florida, where 94-year-old Marcy Friedman, 84-year-old Beverly Glass and 86-year-old Fred Sands passed away recently after their entire group of poker pals came down with COVID-19.

BTW, Beverly and Fred were a couple, and they reportedly died in the same room -- he went first ... and she passed a few days later.

The survivors say they suspect their meet-ups are what triggered the mass infections, as one of them had a bad cough and was sniffling during their final poker game -- though no one thought much of it at the time. Their last game was just outside Miami on March 12.

Shortly afterward, all the other retirees tested positive for coronavirus, with several needing to be hospitalized, including the above-mentioned trio. Harriet Molko -- who survived despite spending nine days in the hospital herself -- says she thought she'd die.

The craziest part of the story -- first reported by the South Florida SunSentinel -- is that many of the retirees were apparently still hitting casinos before and after the group's final game.

Italy wants to inch back to normalcy using baby steps -- and as summer nears, one company suggests keeping people boxed in on their sandy shores ... say hello to beach cubicles!!!

Officials in the European nation -- which has been hard-hit by coronavirus, and is currently on a full-blown national lockdown -- have been brainstorming ways to ease people back into public life, especially as their tourism season starts to pick up in the next few months.

Welp, a company called Nuova Neon Group Due Srl gave their elevator pitch this week to a bunch of Italian bigwigs on how to get folks back to their gorgeous shores, but still maintain some social distancing at the same time. As we've seen, it's hard to do both.

Their bright idea ... 15 feet x 15 feet plexiglass walls that would enclose a party of no more than two or three people tops, just enough for a couple chairs and an umbrella. That's what Nuova thinks will do the trick, but Italian lifeguard orgs think it's a bit too wacky.

The president of a lifeguard cooperative there is quoted as comparing the beach boxes as "chicken coops," going on to say no one in their right mind would subject themselves to being stuck in there under the scorching sun. Other lifeguard honchos agreed ... they hate it.

While some pastors refuse to tell worshippers to stay home amid the pandemic -- Joel Osteen is sticking to digital preaching, and getting astounding results.

Sources close to Lakewood Church tell TMZ ... Joel's total viewership this past weekend was a whopping 11.73 million people across multiple platforms like his own website, Facebook and YouTube. And yes, that's a new record for Lakewood.

The staggering numbers cover 3 webcasts across Saturday and Sunday. Osteen's service clearly benefitted from Mariah Carey and Tyler Perry's guest appearances. Of course, it was Easter ... so that alone brings a boost.

As we reported ... Kanye West and his choir weren't able to join the festivities because Ye felt the acoustic's of his Sunday Service Choir wouldn't be effective with them as spread out as they needed to be.

Joel's Easter stats actually toppled his previous record set by Ye and co. last year, when they appeared in-person at Lakewood -- drawing just over 4 million total viewers that day.

As we reported, churches in Florida, Louisiana and Kentucky ... to name just a few ... have refused to shut down, putting thousands at risk.

Pastor Tony Spell wasn't lying about the number of heads inside his church walls for Easter Sunday -- 'cause now we got visual proof ... and it sure looked like a full house.

The Baton Rouge minister posted this photo as the header on his Facebook page following his Easter service, which went down as promised ... and to just as much fanfare as he'd been hyping. There's a lot of people here, and the Life Tabernacle Church building is probably way bigger than just this. Translation ... the place was pretty damn packed.

You'll recall ... Spell broadcasted his ceremony online, but it appeared he tried keeping the cameras off people in the pews as much as possible. Still, you could see glimpses of the crowd size -- it seemed to be quite a few -- and he eventually claimed it was 1,300-plus in attendance.

The pic certainly seems to indicate about how many folks could've been there -- he'd been telling media he was expecting around 2,000 heads or so. Seems his followers were just as eager to get together for church in-person as he was last week.

We spoke with local Police Chief Roger Corcoran who tells us the actual numbers of attendees were closer to 330 for the morning and 188 for the night service ... still much larger than the suggested 10-person rule

As for what Pastor Spell is up to now ... he tells TMZ he's continuing to do the Lord's work by delivering food to the needy. On Tuesday, Tony and co. hopped aboard their church bus and went around town distributing free grub to different families and individuals.

Unclear if he's taking as much precaution as he should be while doing this ... we see gloves on, but no masks. But, maybe a good deed's a good deed -- even if it's done in close contact and with somewhat high risk.