Beach wars have broken out in Italy after some owners of seaside concessions vowed to ignore a government decree enforcing the public’s right to swim in the sea without paying.

Almost every inch of the shore in Italian seaside resorts is leased to fenced-off concessions that offer beach umbrellas, deckchairs, sun loungers, and amenities such as showers, lavatories, changing rooms and beach cafés – at a price.

By contrast, the free “public beaches” that local authorities are obliged to provide usually amount to no more than a small area, often a long walk from the main shoreline.

As the Mediterranean basked in temperatures of up to 30C (86F) at the weekend members of Adiconsum, an Italian consumer association, put to the test a government directive reminding beach attendants that bathers have the right to enter concessions and walk past sunbathing paying customers to reach the sea if they wish.

While some concession owners grudgingly let the protesters through, a number claimed not to have heard about the decree. “We had to call the police at several establishments,” said Stefano Salvetti, the leader of the protesters at Genoa. “The owners refused to let us go down to the sea without paying an entrance fee. We will keep this up until they do.”

Roberta Morgano, a spokeswoman for Genoa council, said that the protesters were in the right, and that the council would back them up. “Beach concessions that prevent people from reaching the sea without payment are breaking the law,” she said, adding that a letter was being sent to all bathing establishments on the Italian Riviera “spelling this out”.

Similar action has been taken at Viareggio, on the Tuscan coast, and Ostia, near Rome. Riccardo Borgo, head of the Italian beach concession assocation, said that the law was being applied “in an extreme manner. It also applies to hotels and tourist villages. You can imagine the security problems this poses. People pay to go on the beach so they can enjoy the day in peace. This will put us out of business.”

Mr Borgo, who runs a beach concession at Bergeggi, on the Ligurian coast, said that while by law the 5m of sand from the sea edge was public land and nonpaying bathers could use it to enter the water, they were not allowed to lie down on it to sunbathe or put anything down, “not even a towel”. Bathers unwilling to pay would therefore have to present themselves at the turnstile already in their swimming costumes, walk to the sea “without stopping”, swim and then leave the premises, also without stopping.

Mr Salvetti said that “if we cannot put a towel down on the 5m strip at the sea’s edge, then the bathing establishments cannot put their sun loungers on it either. We will take tape measures along next time.”

Shore thing

— David Geffen, founder of DreamWorks film studio, fought for three years to prevent public access to the beach in front of his Malibu estate but was forced to allow a public walkway

— In Norway, the right of citizens to walk on uncultivated land – including all beaches – has come under attack by homeowners in the Oslo Fjord

— The public has access to only about half the English coastline, but David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, said last month that he plans to open it all up

— Scots have enjoyed traditional right of access to their coastline, made law in 2003

— Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea FC owner, is bidding for an eight-mile-long private beach in Montenegro

Sources: Government of Norway, Times archives

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