Italy boasts about its 8,000 kilometers of coastline, but enjoying them is not always free. While in other places going to the beach means finding a spot on the sand, in Italy the experience is usually very different. Finding a space to set up an umbrella without paying can become quite an adventure. In large stretches of the coast, access to the sea is managed by private companies, through public concessions, which have turned the beaches into a multimillion-dollar business. The result is one of the most characteristic images of the Italian summer: endless forests of perfectly aligned umbrellas, accompanied by their respective sun loungers, waiting to be rented for prices that can exceed 35 euros per day.
This model, deeply rooted in the country and marked by management full of irregularities, faces a reform that has been postponed for years despite pressure from Brussels to bring order. Beaches managed by private concessionaires have continued to gain ground. According to the Italian environmental association Legambiente, they already occupy more than 42% of the country’s sandy shores. The Ministry of Infrastructure lowers that figure to 33%, a difference explained by the criterion used for the calculation: the government uses the entire Italian coastline for its accounts and not only the areas suitable for bathing.
For decades, companies, almost always family-run — concessions are usually inherited — have paid relatively low fees to the state for exploiting public spaces, while prices for users have increased exponentially. The concessionaires manage services such as bathrooms, showers, changing rooms, parking lots, as well as the rental of umbrellas and sun loungers. They also control beach bars and cafes and are responsible for rescue operations. Meanwhile, public areas are often neglected, frequently dirty, and lacking public services.
This is a sensitive issue that divides Italian public opinion. For some, paid beaches guarantee order, cleanliness, and comfort; for others, they represent the privatization of a public good that should be accessible to everyone. The main criticism of the system is the huge difference between what concessionaires pay to exploit the beaches and the profits they obtain. The state collects between 80 and 100 million euros a year from the concessions, while the sector, marked by opacity, moves more than 2 billion euros annually, according to various estimates. The Italian Court of Auditors itself has warned that the fees paid by entrepreneurs are usually not proportional to the income they obtain.
One of the most controversial aspects of the Italian model is that concessions have been renewed for years almost by inertia. Without open tenders or effective competition and without controls or transparency, the same operators have retained the exploitation of large stretches of the public coastline for generations, consolidating a system difficult to find in other European countries.
A step forward
Brussels has been demanding changes for years. The Commission considers that Italy violates the 2009 Bolkestein directive, which requires guaranteeing free competition in the awarding of this type of concessions, and has repeatedly pressured Rome. After decades of postponements and confrontations, Giorgia Meloni’s government has addressed the issue. The approved reform foresees that by September 30, 2027, all paid beaches, about 12,000 spread throughout the country, will be put out to public tender. In addition, concessions will have a limited duration, between five and 20 years, and there will be financial compensation for current holders for investments and works they have carried out.
The prospect of opening the market has, however, raised concerns among many entrepreneurs in the sector, who fear that the tenders will favor the entry of large tourist groups or investment funds capable of displacing the family businesses that have traditionally dominated the Italian coasts.
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