Italy faces beach umbrella protest as licence row resurfaces

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By Giselda Vagnoni

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s balneari — or beach managers — closed their umbrellas for a few hours on Friday in a symbolic protest against the government’s failure to resolve a dispute with the European Union about opening up their business to outside competition.

Lucrative licences to rent out sun loungers and beach umbrellas, and manage beach bars and restaurants are traditionally family-controlled and passed down from one generation to another in Italy. Rival entrepreneurs say they have been shut out unfairly from a major business.

The European Union ordered Italy to put its 28,000 beach licenses up for public tender in 2006, but successive Italian governments have dragged their feet, despite pressure from Brussels.

The issue has come back to the forefront after beach concessions expired at the end of 2023 and must be reassigned through public tenders by the end of this year. The licences are officially state-owned, but rarely come up for public bidding.

Italy’s beach managers opened two hours later than normal at 9:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) on Friday in parts of the country, as they kept umbrellas shut during the morning sun.

Antonio Capacchione, president of one of the main unions representing licence holders, said the “gentle strike” had received “massive support”.

It could prove embarrassing for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni whose nationalist coalition has sided with the beach club managers arguing that opening up the sector to wider competition might push up prices and trample local traditions.

Beach club managers had urged Meloni to unveil the national criteria for tenders and economic compensation before the mid-August summer break but the government said it needed more time as talks with Brussels were continuing.

“We were expecting (something in print) before the holidays to have a rough idea of our future, but nothing,” said Michele De Fazio, manager of the La Bonaccia beach club in Ostia, a seaside resort 30 km from the centre of Rome. “My colleagues (are beginning) to lose faith in this government.”

Italy’s beach clubs generated an overall revenue of 2.1 billion euros ($2.29 billion), according to the latest figures published by consultancy Nomisma in 2023. The government received an average of 102 million euros per year through the concession of operating licenses between 2016 and 2020, according to the latest data from Italy’s Audit Court.

Tourists can pay more than 30 euros a day to rent loungers and umbrellas along Italy’s 7,500 km coastline.

Successive governments have failed to liberalise the sector over the years, despite rulings from Italy’s top administrative court and warnings from Brussels that Rome risks fines over non-compliance with EU rules.

($1 = 0.9158 euros)