Italy‘s balneari (beach managers) closed their umbrellas for a few hours on August 9 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.
Antonio Capacchione, president of one of the main unions representing licence holders, said the “gentle strike” had received “massive support”.
In Italy, 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.
Rival entrepreneurs said they have been shut out unfairly from a major business.
The EU ordered Italy to put its 28,000 beach licences up for public tender in 2006 but no Italian government has done so, despite pressure from Brussels.
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.
The issue has come to the forefront again after beach concessions expired at the end of 2023. These 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.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s nationalist coalition has argued that opening up the sector to wider competition might push up prices and disregard 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 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,” he added.
Italy‘s beach clubs generated an overall revenue of €2.1 billion, according to the latest figures published by consultancy Nomisma in 2023.
The government received an average of €102 million annually through the concession of operating licences between 2016 and 2020, according to the latest data from Italy‘s Audit Court.
Tourists can pay more than €30 a day to rent loungers and umbrellas along Italy‘s 7,500 km coastline.
