REPORTAGE. In Italy, private beach owners at war with the government

This is one of the Italian peculiarities. The bathing concessions, on public land, have been passed down through families for decades. After promising to support them, the Italian government is about to force the “balneari” to respond to calls for tender.

Stefania is a regular at the private beach The Bonnaccia. A parasol, deckchairs, parking, she has a subscription for half the year, a system widespread in Italy. “It comes to 1,000 euros per season”she says. The establishment with 500 parasols has been in Michele de Fazio’s family since 1962. But the owner is in a gloomy mood: “Politicians, in order to get elected, said they would turn the tables. And now they say they will see what they can do.”

An allusion to the Meloni government, which is about to put the concessions back into play. The Council of State in Italy has just ruled that the latest automatic renewals are illegal. “If I respond to the call for tender today and lose, I will leave a legacy of 2.5 million euros,” Michele plague.

Over the years, these structures have grown. Bars, restaurants. The “balneari” ask for compensation for those who will have to fold the umbrellas, even if they pay very low fees, as noted by the Court of Auditors in Italy.

A little further along the coast, Maurizio Pasqualoni takes us to one of the public beaches of Ostia, next to his establishment. “There, that’s the toilet. We’re three meters away and we can already smell it. In the evening, here, I wouldn’t dare go in.” In other words, public beaches would not be maintained, unlike private areas. This is his response to the many criticisms that concessions would limit free access to beaches.

But the maintenance of public beaches is simply a question of political will, believes Roberto del Bove of the Mare Libero association, who expects a lot from the competitive bidding process: “During this transition phase, we must re-discuss the proportion of beaches with free access and beaches under concession in the territory.”

At the time when he still thought he could defend the balnearythe government had published a map of the Italian coastline: two thirds open space, one third concession. But this included rocky areas. In some areas, in reality, the proportion is rather the opposite.