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TOURISM

How Italy’s beaches are preparing for a very different summer

Beach season is around the corner and all along Italy's vast coastlines, preparations have begun to attract sun-worshippers and their wallets while safeguarding against the lingering coronavirus.

How Italy's beaches are preparing for a very different summer
Cleaning a deckchair on Jesolo beach near Venice. Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

Most beaches throughout the country remain off-limits. Along some stretches of seafront, however, the sight of colourful, carefully spaced parasols and lounge chairs in the sand hint at economic activity waiting anxiously to restart.

On the Adriatic coast, the hotels, restaurants and seaside resorts flanking the beaches are a vital part of the regional economy, as flocks of tourists — both Italian and international — vie for a spot in the sun.

READ ALSO: Why the Italian government might give you up to €500 to go on holiday in Italy

“To speak of beaches is a matter of life or death for the economy,” Luca Zaia, president of the northern region of Veneto, said on Wednesday during a press conference.

Veneto, which includes Venice, is the Italian region that attracts the most tourists, who add €18 billion to the economy each year. About half of that comes from beach activity.

That means that beach hotels are now in high gear, disinfecting chaise lounges, spacing out tables and using technology to help.


Beach cabins in near Savona, in Liguria. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

Remote-controlled parasols

Italy's government — well aware of the importance of the tourism sector, which represents 15 percent of the jobs in the country — this week issued a series of rules for beach businesses.

Umbrellas must be placed 4.5 metres apart, common areas such as showers and bars must be sanitised, and disinfecting gel must be provided in heavily trafficked areas.

READ ALSO: 

Most beaches throughout the country remain closed, with regional and local officials having the authority to decide when to open them.

To the east of Venice in Jesolo, dozens of hotels line the beach, Miami Beach style. Here, technology is helping to keep the virus at a distance. Parasols open and close via remote control, bathrooms self-disinfect, and electronic bracelets are used to open lockers and restrooms.


Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

Alessandro Berton, president of the professional union Unionmare Veneto, told AFP that businesses had begun preparations over the past few weeks. Among other efforts, the industry has improved its online booking system to prevent people from congregating near entrances to the beach establishments, he said.

But booking is useless unless hotel operators can anticipate when the tourists will arrive, said Christofer De Zotti, director of the Mondial Hotel.

READ ALSO: When will we be able to travel to Italy again?

“The real turning point will be the opening of the borders,” said De Zotti, pointing out that foreigners make up 60 percent of his clientele.

“It's important to know when they will be allowed to take their vacation in Italy,” he said.

'An awful situation'

In Cesenatico, two hours to the south in the neighbouring region of Emilia-Romagna, all the seaside resorts stretching along the coast are closed and only three hotels out of 310 are open.

But despite the closed shutters, all of them are busy trying to restart as soon as possible.

“Normally I would have opened at the beginning of March,” said Simone Battistoni, whose family has been running the Bagno Milano beach concession since 1927.

Battistoni and his colleague Guido Gargiulo, a 37-year-old former footballer, are currently testing newly installed parasols and deckchairs. “Guido, can you believe it moves me to see these sunshades,” Simone said with a smile.


Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

Both men come to the same conclusion: the new rules will force them to reduce the number of parasols by at least a third, forcing them to take a cut in revenue of the same size. Battistoni said he envisions hiring 70 people this season, far short of the 120 usually employed.

“It's an awful situation,” laments Fiorenzo Presepi, owner of the nearby La Dolce Vita hotel. “Normally I would be full from Sunday. The Giro d'Italia [bike race] was making a stop here and the Germans had been booking for a year and staying for at least a week.”

Similar complaints are heard in Rimini, where the shutters of the exclusive Grand Hotel remain closed. The beaches are empty and only a few surfers take the opportunity to hit the waves, including Marco Vannucci, 62.

“Here, everything revolves around tourism,” he said. 

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TOURISM

‘Not even that ancient’: The harshest TripAdvisor comments about Italy’s sights

From Roman ruins to grand Gothic palaces, Italy’s most popular tourist attractions welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors every year – but not everyone leaves satisfied.

'Not even that ancient': The harshest TripAdvisor comments about Italy's sights

With its rich cultural heritage and plenty of art and architecture wonders, Italy draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from all corners of the world every year. 

But a quick scroll through the review section of travel website TripAdvisor will be enough to show that some of the country’s most famous attractions aren’t to everyone’s taste.

Colosseum, Rome

It may be Italy’s biggest tourist attraction, but even the Colosseum – the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, dating back to 80 AD – fails to impress some.

“I came. I saw. I left,” wrote one reviewer, saying that looking at pictures of the building and reading about its history will spare you from “a long wait line, a port a john [sic] bathroom, and a big disappointment”.

READ ALSO: Nine tips for making the most of a Rome city break

Others were seemingly not so happy with the overall state of the attraction.

“[It] was a lot more broken than I thought it would be, at £15 a pop you’d think they’d invest in repairing it,” one wrote. 

“Not even got a roof? When they finishing it [sic]?” asked another. 

Milan, Duomo 

Though it is often regarded as one of, if not the greatest example of Italian Gothic architecture, not everyone seems to be impressed by Milan’s Duomo cathedral. 

“The outside is gaudy and tacky as the worst of Las Vegas,” while “the inside is as bad taste as the outside” and not worth the wait, “even if they paid you”, one reviewer wrote.

READ ALSO: Stay away! How Europe’s most popular spots are fighting overtourism

Another said the Duomo was no different than any “old cathedral” found in every European city, claiming that “pigeons watching [sic] is more exciting than this building”.

Speaking of pigeons, one tourist warned future visitors about the aggressiveness of the local bird population, saying that the area surrounding the Duomo is “swarming with thousands of pigeons that have long ago lost any fear of humans” and will “fly directly at your head”, forcing you to “take evasive action”.

Just another cathedral? The famed Duomo in Milan. Photo by Martin Anselmo on Unsplash

Doge’s Palace, Venice

Venice’s Palazzo Ducale is the third most-visited tourist attraction in the country and arguably one of the best-preserved traces of the ancient Venetian Republic’s power. 

But the palace isn’t everyone’s cup of tea – at least judging from its reviews.

“When you go inside, there’s nothing to see except a lot of paintings on the ceilings and high on the walls. The paintings are impressive but very samey,” one reviewer wrote.

READ ALSO: What’s the difference between Italy’s city taxes and new ‘tourist tax’?

“Really boring,” complained another, saying that the rooms were “bland” and “the view never got any better”. 

Other visitors said they were disappointed with some of their tour guides’ choices.

One wrote: “Our guide took pleasure in telling about people being tortured here. It was a bit grizzly [sic]. Personally I would give the place a miss.” 

Tourists sit under the archway of the Doge's Palace in Venice

The Doge’s Palace in Venice, which some visitors found abit “samey”. Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP

Pompeii 

Even the Pompeii archaeological site, which consists of the ruins of a city buried under volcanic ash following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, has its fair share of detractors.

A reviewer described the site as being “poorly paved street after poorly paved street of pretty much the same old same old terraced house over and over and over and over”.

Another said: “I really don’t get what the hype is about.

“It’s not even that ancient since they had to build so many structures around it to keep it standing. Even the freaking pillars didn’t make it (some barely did I guess).”

One reviewer even went as far as saying it was the “worst place” he’d ever visited, mentioning he had “too much ground to cover in sweltering heat” and he “should have stayed at the nice beaches of Vico Equense”. 

Trevi Fountain, Rome

A prime example of Italian Baroque aesthetics, the Trevi fountain is one of Rome’s most widely recognised symbols worldwide, but not all visitors are impressed by it.

“It splashes and splashes. It spurtles and flows. It fountains and gurgles and is as romantic as my oldest pairs of smelly socks,” wrote one reviewer, who concluded they felt “let down”.

Tourists around Rome's Trevi Fountain

Tourists around Rome’s Trevi Fountain in March 2024. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

That said, many reviewers expressed appreciation for the fountain’s architecture, but complained that their visit was ruined by hordes of fellow tourists. These complaints are far from unjustified given the attraction’s long-standing overcrowding issues

One reviewer suggested that “packing a pair of 8 foot stilts” may be the only way to “ensure a satisfying visit to the Trevi”.

Another called the attraction a “claustrophobia mecca” that’s “nearly impossible to deal with because of the thousands of pushy, sweaty, rude and large tourists”.

Have you seen a surprising review of an Italian landmark? Are there any Italian sights you think are overrated? Let us know in the comments section below.

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