Goodbye to your favorite Italian beach vacation

(CNN) — It’s the Italian dream: lounging on one of the best beaches on the Mediterranean coast, drink in hand, just moving to eat freshly caught fish or pick up another glass of local wine.

But your summer Vita It can be reduced a bit. dolce In the year Starting in 2024, some new laws will come into force that could change the face of Italy’s coastline.

Starting Dec. 31, 2023, beach concessions — if that beach club rents sunbeds, a bar or a restaurant — will go up for auction. Sweet life A way of life is at stake,” say those in the industry.

With 4,600 miles of coastline on the mainland alone, Italy is one of Europe’s largest beach destinations.

But the new law means families will have to compete with other interested parties in the EU – which could include big businesses – rather than automatically renewing their licences.

Although the deals aren’t up for auction, anyone who wants to bid will have to plan the space – and bars and restaurants that are passed down from generation to generation fear deep-pocketed investors will win out – and prices could rise for vacations as a result.

“Sold off the coast of Italy [to the highest bidder]Luciano Montechiaro, owner of Lido Jamaica in the southern Campania region of Trentova Bay, told CNN.

“When the malls came to Italy, the small shops all closed. We small businesses can’t compete.”

Every summer, Montechiaro is on the beach at 8 a.m., sweeping the sand, setting up sunbeds and brewing cappuccinos for the first-timers in a booth built by his late grandfather 40 years ago, whose photo hangs above the restaurant.

Visitors can either rent sunbeds and parasols, or hit the bar where Montechiaro serves a traditional lunch, including regional pasta dishes and salads. After closing, it picks up trash around the beach.

Montechiaro, now 35, moved to Australia as a young man, but returned to the family business every summer.

“This bay is my life — I was born here,” he said.

“In my time there was nothing here No, no He arrived. He asked for this little piece of land, it was given to him, he built his cottage, he created this business. Now you might say, ‘Okay, now go.’

“If I had known they were going to take it from us, I wouldn’t have come back from Australia.”

“I’m going to destroy my restaurant.”

His restaurant is located at Abundant — A wooden fishing platform with a canoe on the sea, reached by a treacherous footpath typical of the area. The tradition goes back many centuries, and most of them Abundant They are still owned by long-time fishing families.

Very’s grandfather, a fisherman, built it. AbundantHis grandson before saving it from ruin in 2010 by turning it into a restaurant and turning around the family’s financial fortunes. Decreasing stocks mean that livelihoods from fishing on the Abruzzo coast have become more difficult in recent decades.

“I understand that there are people who are not lucky [to open their own] It may be a little jealous, but we have to save Abundant [people who make and work in them]” he told CNN.

“No one makes them strong – it’s art. We know what kind of wood to use – we cut it on the waning moon in January, so it’s strong for years. Anyway, I’m sorry. Abundant If someone else [won the space]So they buy a square meter.”

‘It was done in a hurry’

The law — approved by Italy’s Senate and now moving to the Chamber of Deputies, where it will vote on June 25 — seeks to bring Italy into line with EU competition rules. The union It passed the law in 2006, but Italy – along with other countries with severe coastal conditions – has repeatedly postponed implementing it.

Italy’s concessions have been renewed since 1992. In 2018, the government decided that the renovation would last until 2033. However, owners — who have taken out loans or mortgages against their businesses — will now have their licenses revoked. A decade ago, the government said it needed to reform competition laws to benefit from the EU’s pandemic recovery plan. A spokesman for the Consiglio di Stato, which proposed the law, did not respond to a request for comment.

FIBA president Maurizio Rustinnoli told CNN that the way the rule was rushed through was “not correct” and warned that if big businesses were to step in, it could raise prices.

“A business owner who was told that they had until 2033, a 10-year forecast, and who made investments and life choices, now that the state has taken 10 years and still has no guarantee that compensation will be paid.” he said.

“It was done in haste, but a measure of this magnitude needs further discussion.”

“Costs will undoubtedly go up,” he said, if incoming companies have to pay compensation to laid-off operators.

And he warned that the move could open the door to organized crime – partly because of the money needed to raise the winning idea and partly because few legitimate businesses want to invest in something that could be taken away from them. Years down the line.

“If any entrepreneur is working legally, he needs to be sure about the future. Either the illegal world will move, or we will have a poor system,” he said.

“Tourist-oriented businesses are very attractive to moneylenders, so there’s a risk, I’m afraid, of infiltration of illicit funds.”

Coasters can go to multinationals

Italy’s pristine beaches offer “unique in the world” dating back to the 1700s, according to Alex Giusio, author of “La Linea Fragile,” about Italy’s coastline.

“It’s very comprehensive – we know there will be a bidding process, but not much,” he said, adding that fears that the beach might be “sold out” are “valid”.

“Italy has more private concessions than anywhere else in Europe, and if the government doesn’t limit it to one person or support small family businesses – and they haven’t done this yet – they risk going to multinationals, and that’s terrible,” he said.

Beaches as big business

Not everyone is bothered. Some point to the current low rents for concessionaires and the suspiciously low tax returns they often provide.

And the Veneto region already has its own similar law that “produces effective results.” Beaches are big business in Veneto — they contribute 50% of the region’s GDP, equivalent to $10.5 billion.

“The Veneto Act helped us understand that a problem could be an opportunity,” Burton said. “You can redevelop the area. We’ve got land that was worthless 50 years ago… We’ve built $10.5 billion of GDP.”

He pointed out that it is important to recognize the investments made by the previous owners in order to prevent large businesses from entering.

The death of the dolt vita?

But for Maurizio Rustignoli, everyone is at stake.

“You can be big, but there’s always someone big, and in five, 10 years, you’ll see the change,” he said.

“Our concern is that small businesses in Veneto will be crushed because they don’t have the financial capacity … and even if they are very good in Veneto, you can’t have a one size fits all policy,” he said. he said.

In fact, it is general Sweet life The vacation style at stake, Rustignoli says.

“We don’t just sell sunbeds, we sell a lifestyle.

“Going to a hypermarket is different from going to a small shop.

“Tourism is about emotions, and Sweet life It consists of many things: food and wine, human relations, safety. If you do the same thing everywhere, you lose a lot.”