Manduria, Posillipo face privatization pressure

Manduria and Posillipo are not following the same script: Manduria moved to award private beach-service concessions, while Naples says new Posillipo concessions will cover less sand than before. (comune.manduria.ta.it) (en.cronachedellacampania.it) The Comune di Manduria published a notice on March 14, 2025 for 14 state-beach concessions, each described as “spiagge libere con servizi,” or free beaches with paid services, for the 2025 and 2026 bathing seasons. The concessions were temporary, lasted two years, and carried no renewal right. (comune.manduria.ta.it) Manduria’s deadline was noon on April 14, 2025, and each applicant could compete for only one lot. The municipality set a €300 administrative fee and located the parcels across Marchese, Borraco, San Pietro in Bevagna, Specchiarica and Torre Colimena. (comune.manduria.ta.it) (lavocedimanduria.it) In Posillipo, the Port Authority published a European tender on August 1, 2025 for three beach lots starting January 1, 2026 and lasting two years. Two lots are about 1,000 square meters each, and a third at Spiaggia delle Monache is about 500 square meters. (fanpage.it) (rainews.it) Those Posillipo lots were drawn after a court fight over the shoreline used by Bagno Elena and eyed by Palazzo Petrucci. Rai News reported the Council of State upheld the need for a public tender, and the new tender reserved nearly half the beach for free public use. (fanpage.it) (rainews.it) That is why the latest official line from Naples cuts against a simple “privatization” claim. After a prefecture meeting on April 23, 2026, participants said the coming Posillipo concessions would occupy a smaller share of the shoreline and leave more room for swimmers without bookings. (en.cronachedellacampania.it) (ilroma.net) The Manduria dispute is different. Local coverage in spring 2025 described protests over giving 14 stretches of coast to private operators, even with the “free beach with services” label and limits on permanent structures. (antennasud.com) (comune.manduria.ta.it) Both cases sit inside Italy’s wider beach-concession overhaul, where public shoreline remains state property but operators must increasingly win time-limited tenders instead of relying on old extensions. In Posillipo, that process has so far produced smaller concession areas; in Manduria, it produced a larger set of lots opened to private management. (rainews.it) (comune.manduria.ta.it) So the cleanest reading is this: Manduria did move 14 beach parcels toward private operation in 2025, but Posillipo’s current plan pairs new concessions with a larger public share of the sand. (comune.manduria.ta.it) (en.cronachedellacampania.it)