Italy is "o paese d'o sole" as a Neapolitan song from the early twentieth century once proclaimed. But it is also a country of coastlines: with its 3,000 kilometres of coastal strip, Italy's shoreline represents an extraordinary environmental and tourism asset. Yet erosion and climate change are threatening the very existence of the coastal landscape as we know it. The fragility of this context is brought home by recent events, among them the waterspout at Fiumicino, the violent hailstorm on the beaches of the Marche, and the cancellation of the Ligurian date of Jovanotti's concert because, in just six months, the beach that was supposed to host the event had retreated by 12 metres.

Beaches retreating by 25 metres

According to the Rapporto Spiagge 2019 drawn up by Legambiente and published at the end of July, a third of coastal areas are undergoing erosion or are at risk of it. Despite this, there is no ongoing monitoring of the phenomenon, and the solutions deployed often respond to periodic emergencies rather than forming a long-term strategy. Take beach nourishment, for example: restoring beaches with sand dredged from the seabed is undoubtedly useful for rebuilding eroded shores. But, as confirmed by the 2017 data from the Ministry of the Environment, it is not sustainable over the long term, given that between 1997 and 2011 more than 20 million cubic metres of sand were extracted from the seabed to rebuild hundreds of kilometres of beach. Yet 40 per cent of that nourishment was lost.

Confirming the scale of the problem, the environmental protection agency Ispra, after monitoring every kilometre of coastline, found that over the past 50 years the shoreline has on average retreated by 25 metres. When one also considers that only 1,200 of 3,600 kilometres of sandy coast are designated for bathing, the impact of the problem becomes even greater. Enea projections, finally, have identified 33 areas at high erosion risk due to rising sea levels: these include Trieste, Ravenna, the Venice lagoon, the coastal plains of Versilia and Fiumicino, the coastal area of Catania, and those of Cagliari and Oristano. We are talking about at least 5,500 square kilometres of territory at risk of flooding by 2100, and estimates generally suggest that for every two and a half centimetres of sea level rise, beaches will retreat by one metre.

Green beach establishments

"The paradox is that in our country no one looks after the coastline," writes Legambiente in its dossier. "In practice, no one is interested in monitoring what is happening — from erosion, which will become increasingly significant with climate change, to pollution and the encroachment of concrete — in order to offer a perspective capable of holding together the various issues and planning recovery and enhancement interventions."

For this reason, it becomes particularly important to highlight the success of seaside resorts that are embracing a more sustainable offering. While on one hand free beaches are becoming ever scarcer (42 per cent of sandy coastline is occupied by concession establishments, and Italy is in fact the only European country that places no limit on concession beaches), on the other there is a boom in establishments that are opting for a green offering: many have chosen to go plastic-free and invest in renewables, to protect dunes and restore native species, to promote locally sourced produce, to use only wood and natural materials for their structures, to remove all barriers to access, and to reward and assist with dedicated spaces those who arrive by bicycle or electric transport — and much more besides. Some of these establishments are recognisable by the "Ecospiagge" label.