The enthusiasm can already be felt in the words of the beach operators who, especially in these hours, are welcoming families and young people to the beaches. It is the great exodus, the whistle that starts the summer in the cities that suddenly find themselves deserted; on the highways, cars full of luggage that crowd at the toll booths. Along the Ferrara Mare, which even today – barriers and four bottlenecks for the work in progress – represents the funnel where the development of a province is strangled.
“There are so many people”, says Nicola Ghedini, manager of Bagno Kursaal in Spina, president of Cna Balneari. A life on the beach, a sea entrepreneur. “Finally, I add. After a long period with not at all favorable weather we are at what we can define as the real start of the season”, he comments. Open umbrellas, smiles at the tables, a few glasses raised to toast after a journey that may not be exactly short, hours in the car before setting foot, naked, on the beach. A liberation from socks, moccasins and boots that are tight. “Our beaches, a winning formula – he specifies -. And this is thanks to the establishments that now meet all requests. There are events, lots of sports, the desire to be together in the evening is guaranteed and, of course, lots of sea”. The cost of what is a ‘must’ around the corner for many Ferraresi – the house by the sea inherited from generations – is not high. Especially if you look at the ‘cousins’ of Romagna. To rent a beach umbrella and two loungers for a day, it costs between 20 and 25 euros. A month, between 200 and 250 euros. With ‘jumps’ depending on the line, close to or far from the waves. A good segment of the clientele in the establishments, still in the shallows of a very thorny Bolkestein, is guaranteed by the owners of second homes. Very loyal in the summer, regulars when the season seems dead. Too bad about that strip of concrete and sheet metal. Nicola Bocchimpani (president of AsBalneari), owner of Bagno Pomposa, doesn’t go easy on him. “Thanks to this beautiful road – he intervenes ironically – it takes more than two and a half hours to get to the beaches from Bologna, that really penalizes us”. Then he goes into the details of that long snake of asphalt that from Comacchio – touching Ostellato, Masi, Voghiera – reaches Ferrara. “Four, I repeat four. These are the bottlenecks for work that are still there in this period, we are talking about July, the heart of the beach season – he blurts out -. It’s absurd”. A pause, then his gaze goes to the season. “It has taken off – he emphasizes -, finally. Too bad that with this crazy weather that has been haunting us until the other day it will be a short season, we are talking about two months”. From the highway to the staff, another issue. “I got tired – he reports – of looking for young people who want to work. In the end there was no way to find anyone who wanted to work in the evening, to keep the restaurant open. And so I said enough, I’m closing in the evening”. “First signs of summer! After the bad weather, the long-awaited sold out over the weekend. Lots of people, mostly commuters but also many of our customers who have returned to being the protagonists on our beaches”, intervenes Gianni Nonnato, president of the Lido Nazioni consortium, owner of the Chalet del Mare. Not only the beaches, alternative destinations are also doing well over the weekend. Like the Goro lighthouse, run by Erik Scabbia and Giampiero Rubbi. Here too the refrain. “There was no way to find a cook, now I cook”, says Erik, wearing a chef’s hat.
