Sicilians who fear an invasion of naked sunbathers have joined forces with the Catholic Church to oppose plans for a naturist festival billed by its organisers as a “celebration of nudity”.

The festival is due to be held at Capo Bianco, a 3km (1.8mile) stretch of fine white sand screened by Mediterranean foliage and pine woods near Agrigento and overlooked by the ruins of Eraclea Minoa where, according to Greek myth, Minos, the ruler of Crete, pursued and punished Dedalus for helping Ariadne and Theseus to find their way out of the Labyrinth.

Cosimo Piro, the Christian Democratic mayor of Cattolica Eraclea, the nearest village, issued a regulation recently allowing “free use of Capo Bianco by lovers of nude sunbathing”, arguing that it would help to make the landscape well known. Nude sunbathing is illegal in Italy but a few naturist beaches are authorised by councils if they are patrolled by naturist associations. The Capo Bianco festival is organised by the Italian Naturist Federation, based in Turin, and the Sicilian Naturist Association.

Marcello Festeggiante, 55, a teacher and the head of the Sicilian association, said that the festival, held from May 23 to 25, would be attended by more than a hundred naturists. He told the newspaper La Stampa that the event was “open to all who want to get to grips with the history and philosophy of our movement”.

Father Giuseppe Miliziano, the parish priest, said: “The beach belongs to the state, not to the local council. If the state decided to allow people to take their clothes off, there is not much I could do about it. But as far as I am aware no such authorisation has been issued.”

Stefano Malatesta, the Sicilian writer, said that residents were talking about “hordes of naked tourists, though I think it's a bit of a myth”.

Yesterday Mr Piro said that he had never promised to make Capo Bianco into a permanent nudist beach.

It would not be the first time that the beach has been known for nude sunbathing. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German poet and dramatist, records in his diary in 1787 that he took a “restoring sea bathe” at Capo Bianco after stripping off his clothes.

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