Taormina keeps 53% beach public
- Taormina presented a new shoreline-use plan on April 26 that keeps 53% of usable beach areas open to the public. - The plan assigns 47% to private concessions, generally keeps 25 meters between them, and requires public access on contiguous concession stretches. - The rules were drafted after Sicily updated beach-planning guidance in 2025 and after cyclone Harry reshaped parts of Taormina’s coast. (regione.sicilia.it)
Taormina has presented a new beach-use plan that keeps 53% of its usable shoreline areas for public access and assigns 47% to private operators. (messina.gazzettadelsud.it) The plan is the Piano di utilizzo del demanio marittimo, or PUDM, the municipal document that sets how state-owned coastal land can be used. Taormina presented the new draft to beach operators on April 26. (messina.gazzettadelsud.it) According to Gazzetta del Sud, the municipality mapped the beach areas it considers effectively usable and then split them between free public use and private concessions. The baseline rule is a minimum distance of 25 meters between concessions where that is still possible. (messina.gazzettadelsud.it) In stretches where erosion has narrowed the coast, the town says it had to allow exceptions to that 25-meter spacing. Where private concessions end up touching each other, the operator must reserve 20% of the licensed area for free public use, with access to minimum services. (messina.gazzettadelsud.it) The timing reflects two separate changes in Sicily’s coastal policy. The regional government updated the guidelines for municipal beach plans with Decree No. 208 on July 29, 2025, published on August 5, 2025. (regione.sicilia.it) Then, on December 5, 2025, Sicily issued a new directive to speed and standardize the approval process for these shoreline plans. The regional demanio marittimo portal lists Taormina among the locations covered by that procedure. (demaniomarittimo.regione.sicilia.it) Taormina’s draft also takes account of damage from cyclone Harry, which hit the Ionian coast earlier this year. Local reporting said the storm destroyed beach structures at Mazzeo and forced emergency action over sewage outflows into the sea. (tempostretto.it) (messina.gazzettadelsud.it) That helps explain why the plan does not simply redraw the coast from scratch. The municipality said it started from concessions already formally authorized by the region and adjusted the layout around erosion and the post-storm condition of the shoreline. (messina.gazzettadelsud.it) The next fight is likely to be over implementation, not the headline ratio. In Taormina, the real test will be whether the public share remains usable on the sand once summer concessions, spacing rules and erosion constraints meet the 2026 season. (messina.gazzettadelsud.it)
