Guardian names six free beaches

The Guardian on April 27 published a new Italy travel list focused on something increasingly scarce on the country’s coast: beaches that are natural and free to access. (theguardian.com) The piece says private beach clubs and hotels occupy many of Italy’s best-known stretches of sand, from the Amalfi Coast to the Cinque Terre. It instead highlights six places where visitors can still spread out a towel on public shoreline. (theguardian.com) Among the beaches named are the Riviera del Conero in Marche and the Gargano peninsula in Puglia. The Guardian describes Conero as a chain of protected bays inside a regional park and Gargano as a quieter Adriatic coast of rocky coves and pebbled beaches. (europesays.com) At Conero, the article points readers to Sirolo and Portonovo Bay, where free beach space still sits alongside optional paid loungers and umbrellas. In Gargano, it singles out Portogreco and Vignanotica, including a long pebble beach backed by a limestone cliff. (europesays.com) The travel advice lands in the middle of a wider Italian fight over who gets to use the coast. Monocle reported last year that beaches are public by law, but many prime stretches are controlled by private concessions that charge for access and amenities. (monocle.com) That dispute has also drawn in the European Union. Reuters reported in 2024 that Italy approved rules to put about 28,000 beach concessions up for bidding by June 2027 after years of delays and pressure to open the sector to competition. (swissinfo.ch) (en.ilsole24ore.com) That makes the Guardian’s list more than a summer roundup. It doubles as a map of the parts of Italy’s coast where “open to all” still means what it says. (theguardian.com) (monocle.com)