“This year, up to 700 euros per day are spent on renting umbrellas and sunbedsand from the north to the south of the peninsula there are price adjustments of +3% to +5% for seaside services”. This is supported by Codacons, which carried out a survey on the most expensive beaches in Italy. Generally speaking, for rent an umbrella and two sunbeds during the weekend in a standard establishment, underlines the consumer association, “the average expense is between 32 and 35 euros per daywith strong differences across the territory: in Sabaudia you need up to 45 euros, which reaches 90 euros in Gallipoli and reaches 120 euros in some places in Sardinia”.
However, if you move to the ‘luxury’ beachesCodacons notes, “spending exceeds 500 euros per day and can reach close to 700 euros. This is the case, for example, of Cinque Vele Beach Club in Marina di Pescoluse (Le) where a gazebo with two seats in the front row located in the ‘Exclusive’ area costs well in August (if booked today with a refundable option) 696 euros per day. 600 euros are needed (like last year) for an Arab tent at the ‘Twiga’ in Forte dei Marmi (with sofa, 2 king size beds, 2 standard beds, 1 director’s chair and 1 coffee table). For a day at the seaside on the beach of the prestigious Hotel Excelsior on the Lido of Venice, the cost for a hut in the front row is 515 euros (with 2 deckchairs, 2 sunbeds, sheet, pillow, towel, table, wardrobe, mirror, coat hanger) “.
Slightly less, Codacons notes, “at the beach club of the Augustus Hotel in Forte dei Marmi, 500 euros for a tent in the front row. The same expense at the Nikki Beach Costa Smeralda: for the Iconic Beach bed you need 270 euros, but it is necessary to add a minimum consumption of 230 euros for wine or champagne, for a total of 500 euros per day”.
And precisely on the subject of beaches and bathing establishments, Codacons, following the decision of the Council of State on the extensions of concessions, underlines the consumer association, “has launched a new legal initiative: the association has presented a formal notice to the Harbor Offices of port throughout Italy asking to ‘sanction the use of beach concessions subject to illegitimate extension, thus guaranteeing the full use of Italian beaches for citizens'”.
Codacons, in light of the ruling of the Council of State, believes that “the extensions of beach concessions to establishments must be considered invalid. Therefore Italian beaches, in the absence of valid concessions, since they belong to the assets of the State, can be used by all citizens freely. At present it is legitimate to believe that citizens can use the beaches as ‘free’, bringing umbrellas and sunbeds even where the establishments are located. And, on the other hand, the managers of these establishments, where they hold expired concessions, they cannot object to the behavior described.”
