Every year in Italy, during the sultry weeks straddling Ferragosto — the sacrosanct mid-August national holiday — cities empty as Italians head en masse to beaches and mountain resorts. But this summer, the usual idyll was sullied in the minds of many Italians shocked by how expensive a day at the beach has become.
“I don’t understand why I have to pay 50 euros a day” for a beach umbrella and two lounge chairs, said Michelle Guerra, who was instead sitting on a towel at one of the few free beaches in Santa Marinella, a seaside resort town some 40 miles north of Rome. “Salaries have been frozen for years, but everything has become so much more expensive.”
Stagnant wages have long been a problem in Italy. Most times people grumble and move on, but every so often, the issue sparks a flare of national indignation. This summer, that anger has centered on the cost of an umbrella and two lounge chairs at Italian beach clubs, sapping some of the fun out of the August beach getaways that many Italians consider something of a birthright.
“Beach umbrellas cost their weight in gold and the beaches are emptying,” read one front-page headline in the Turin daily La Stampa. Another headline, in the daily newspaper Libero, blared, “The expensive holidays that ruin Italians’ dreams.”
The coastline in Italy is owned by the state, and public access to beaches is guaranteed. But the state leases portions of the coastline to more than 7,000 mostly-family run beachfront clubs. The clubs charge for use of their facilities, which can include not only chairs and umbrellas, but also showers, changing rooms, parking, and even pools in pricier establishments. Once the summer hits, rows of matching umbrellas dot the beaches, with their colors and patterns changing at irregular intervals to delineate individual beach clubs.
This year, usual prices have ranged from about $24 to well above $117.
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