Desperately looking for Minos. Tourist operators on the Viterbo coast await the African anticyclone like manna from heaven to save a start to the summer season that is nothing short of catastrophic. They haven’t given up hope because the weather forecast says a tropical heat wave is coming and maybe this will be the right time.
The coast betrayed by Minos
In the meantime, the bathing establishments and hotels of Tarquinia and Montalto di Castro are licking the wounds inflicted by this decidedly anomalous month of June compared to the great heat to which climate change has accustomed us in recent years. In the series, even global warming is no longer what it used to be. Marzia Marzoli, owner of the Tibidabo establishment in Tarquinia and regional president of Sib, the seaside resorts’ union, speaks of 2024 as a leap year for the local tourist economy. “We had inaugurated the spring season in a sign of optimism, we found ourselves with the desert, both on weekdays and on weekends marked by bad weather, strong winds and rough seas. Then on June 2nd it was an authentic Caporetto”.
Many tourists have canceled or postponed their reservations
Many tourists who had booked hotels and establishments in June have canceled or postponed. “We hope that July and August will get a season that would otherwise be condemned to failure back on its feet,” underlines Marzoli, who recalls the large numbers of past seasons, when the heat arrived as early as June, and together with the heat also tourists and bathers. If Athens-Tarquinia is crying, in Sparta-Montalto the beachgoers are downright desperate. In fact, the largest photovoltaic pole in Europe was added to the weather factor. “Whoever takes the Castrense or Dogana road to get to Montalto or Pescia will have noticed this – continues Marzoli -. The construction sites for the laying of the cable ducts have made the seaside roads impassable due to works and traffic lights”.
Marzoli: “We now expect big numbers in July and August”
The environmentalist soul of Marzoli, in the past an activist of the No Coke movement, returns to the surface: “The coast has become a colony of solar energy multinationals”, says the seaside entrepreneur.
From the coast to the lakes, the climate and moods change. At Bella Venere, on Lake Vico, there were always people in June, with sold-out weekends. “Not so much as a hotel but as a facility we were full,” says the operator. “Of course the weather wasn’t the best, but it didn’t penalize us too much. We now expect big numbers in July and August.”
Full house in Bolsena
However, large numbers have already been recorded in Bolsena. Word of the mayor and entrepreneur. Andrea Di Sorte even speaks of a month of June in a state of grace. “Fortunately, Bolsena doesn’t just have the lake – explains the mayor and restaurateur -. In June there was Corpus Domini and the hydrangea festival, which was an authentic apotheosis. Never seen so many people, both during weekdays and weekends.” Di Sorte speaks with knowledge of the facts and numbers. Those of the tourist tax: “There were thousands of overnight stays.” The secret to success? “In Bolsena we have invested a lot in promotion, we have many accommodation facilities and a historic center of great beauty. Furthermore, the synergy that we have started with Civita di Bagnoregio and Orvieto is leading to great results. Bolsena is central to the tourist flows of Alto Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria. Even the Via Francigena, traveled by thousands of pilgrims, helps us.”
Massimiliano Conti
FULL ARTICLE IN THE CORRIERE DI VITERBO OF JULY 1ST – DIGITAL NEWSSTAND
