A group of Italian nuns is fighting back against local council plans to take their beach club away from them – the latest flashpoint in the long-running debate about the monopoly of private concessions along Italy’s coastline.
The dispute, described as “a holy war” by some local press, unfolded when a 50-metre stretch of sand at Bagni Gino Garrone, a beach resort in the Ligurian coastal town of Spotorno managed by nuns from the Suore di Carità di Santa Maria order, was designated for public bidding by authorities as they seek to comply with EU beach concession laws as well as regional regulations on free beach quotas.
The nuns have been managing the resort since 1946 after being exempt from standard commercial rules because they were using the proceeds for charitable purposes, including funding an infant school they still run in Spotorno and a summer beach camp.
For decades they have been renting out loungers and umbrellas, so operating much like thousands of other private beach concessions, the difference being – they claim – that the proceeds go to fund their charitable activities.
However, with the regulation governing beach use for social missions no longer existing, they were told by Spotorno’s mayor, Mattia Fiorini, that the concession would be reclassified as a “free equipped beach” and if they wanted to continue running it they would have to compete in a public tender.
During a public debate on the topic, Sister Miranda, a nun in her 80s, challenged Fiorini. “It’s ours,” she was quoted as saying by the Turin edition of Corriere della Sera. “Why does the municipality want to take away our beach? If they do, we won’t even be able to keep the school running.”
Operating it as a “free equipped beach”, meaning access is completely free and people can choose to pay a small sum to rent loungers and umbrellas if they wish, would be considerably less profitable, the nuns argued.
Fiorini said if they wanted to continue managing the concession “they must participate in the tender, like everyone else”. The tender is due to be issued in the autumn.
The mayor’s plan means Spotorno could be among the first municipalities in Italy to meet a 30 June 2027 deadline for the country to put its current private beach concessions out to public tender, as per the EU’s Bolkestein directive.
For two decades, successive Italian governments – under pressure from powerful beach concession owners fearful of losing the often lucrative business – have resisted the competition rules. Giorgia Meloni’s government was forced to agree to the deadline amid pressure from Brussels and domestic court rulings.
