Anger in Italy over rise in privatised beaches Nick SquiresAugust 17, 2025 at 2:00 AM Beach operators have a strong lobby in Italy Buena Vista Images Italians are in revolt against the privatisation of the country's coast as vast stretches of beach are taken over by lucrative beach clubs, bars and r...
- - Anger in Italy over rise in privatised beaches
Nick SquiresAugust 17, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Beach operators have a strong lobby in Italy - Buena Vista Images
Italians are in revolt against the privatisation of the country's coast as vast stretches of beach are taken over by lucrative beach clubs, bars and restaurants.
The "stabilimento" or beach club is a long-standing tradition in Italy where customers pay a premium for umbrellas, loungers, showers and readily available food and drink.
In the past, the rest of the beach remained accessible to the public for free.
But the country's thousands of beach clubs have encroached on ever greater stretches of sand. The number of beach concessions has increased by 12 per cent in recent years.
Now, many Italians have had enough, especially as inflation and the cost of living crisis means an increasing number of families have been unable to have a holiday at all this summer or have taken much shorter breaks.
The spread of private beach clubs "represents a silent expropriation", La Stampa, an Italian daily, commented this week. "In Italy, they are stealing even the seaside. Free beaches are becoming ever rarer. And those which are not free are ever more expensive."
For the 35 per cent of working-age Italians who earn €15,000 (£13,000) a year or less, private beach clubs are out of reach.
Beach clubs have been expanding in Sicily - Mauritius Images/Alamy
Protests against the beach squeeze have sprung up across the country, from Liguria in the north to Sicily in the south.
Matteo Hallissey, the head of centre-Left party +Europa, was shoved and verbally abused recently when he staged a protest on a beach south of Rome.
Beach club operators at Lavinio near Anzio had put up signs that read "Spiaggia privata" or "Private beach".
Accompanied by a colleague, Ivan Grieco, Mr Hallissey told the operators that the signs were illegal. When he planted an umbrella in the sand he was jostled and pushed to the ground.
"Things are really changing this year. People are sick and tired of this situation, they're angry," the politician, who has a British father and an Italian mother, told The Telegraph.
"Year by year the beach establishments take over more space, eating into what used to be free beach areas. We are seeing a lot more protests. People are increasingly aware of what is going on.
"Not only are the beach clubs expanding, they're increasing their prices each year. And the staff are often rude."
Many Italians have skipped a beach holiday entirely this year, either because they cannot afford it or because they opted to go to the Alps or Dolomites to escape rising temperatures on the coast.
Matteo Hallissey: 'People are sick and tired of this situation, they're angry'
Some beach clubs have reported a 25 per cent decline in the number of customers so far this summer.
The protest at Lavinio was the latest in a series of actions that Mr Hallissey has launched.
He and his supporters are planning more protests in the coming weeks in Lazio, the region that encompasses Rome, and Campania to the south which includes Naples.
"It is a particularly Italian problem. In other European countries the sector is more regulated. But in Italy, the beach operators are a very strong lobby. Politicians are afraid of them, they don't have the courage to stand up to them. Successive governments have failed to tackle the problem, not just the current government led by Giorgia Meloni. It's been going on for 20 years."
In the beach resort of Mondello in Sicily there have been vociferous protests against turnstiles erected by beach clubs to control access to the sand.
Authorities announced this week they will take action and have ordered the turnstiles to be removed.
"Permission should not be given to this kind of device, which blocks access to the water's edge," said Giusi Savarino, a regional politician. "People must be allowed to reach the sea freely and without paying. No authorisation was granted for the turnstiles, and they will be removed."
Ismaele La Vardera, an MP who campaigned against the barriers, said: "This is a victory not just for Mondello but for all Sicilians, considering the effect it will have on the whole island."
In the southern region of Basilicata, police had to intervene in the town of Metaponto after a public beach was taken over by private beach club operators. Officers confiscated hundreds of sun loungers and umbrellas that had been illegally placed on the sand.
Club operators have tried to restrict access to Mondello beach with turnstiles in Sicily - Eye Ubiquitous/Alamy
At a beach called Spiaggia delle Monache near Naples, campaigners protested against a section being fenced off by private operators.
At an exclusive beach club called Twiga, in Marina di Pietrasanta on the coast of Tuscany, activists stuck umbrellas in the sand as a way of symbolically reclaiming the beach.
Some beach club operators have even illegally tried to charge people for the privilege of bringing their own food and drink onto the sand.
"In reality, all beaches should be free and there should be no cases in which people are denied access to the water's edge to have a swim," says Massimo Melpignano, a lawyer from the consumer organisation Konsumer Italia. "Beach clubs are permitted to manage a public asset and to charge people for the services they offer, but they cannot run the beach as if it was their private property."
In the north-western coastal region of Liguria, it is estimated that 70 per cent of beaches are now occupied by private clubs, campsites and resorts. In the northern region of Emilia Romagna, which has a long Adriatic coastline, the figure is 69.5 per cent, while in Campania, which includes Naples, Sorrento and the islands of Capri and Ischia, the proportion is 68 per cent.
At some resorts, the proportion of the beach which remains free to access is as low as 3 per cent.
"A public asset is now in the hands of the private sector," said Stefano Bigliazzi, who is the head of the regional branch of Legambiente, an Italian environmental organisation.
Josi Della Ragione, the mayor of Bacoli on the coast west of Naples, has made a name for himself by standing up to bullying beach club operators.
Fathers hand down these places
Bacoli is renowned as a summer playground for Neapolitans. There is big money to be made, the resort can host up to 100,000 people a day during the summer.
Mr Della Ragione was Italy's youngest mayor when he was first elected at the age of 28 and is now on his third term.
He has campaigned tirelessly against rapacious beach club owners who regard the coast as their personal domain.
"Fathers hand down these places to their sons, grandfathers to their grandchildren. There has been a continual privatisation of beaches," he told The Telegraph.
He has ordered the removal of umbrellas and sun loungers on stretches which should be public and has authorised the demolition of buildings, walls and fences which were built without permission.
"All these things are obstructions which stop people from reaching the sea. In the last few years we have managed to return 10,000 square metres of beach to the public. And we have decreed that for every beach, at least 50 per cent should be accessible to the public. Right now, there are beaches where the freely accessible area is just 10-15 per cent of the total."
But he has clearly upset some powerful local interests. In April he was sent two letters, each containing a bullet. The case was referred to the police.
But the mayor said: "For too long, beach operators have used the coast for their own private gain. But I'm not giving up."
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