Beach clubs have a significant impact on Italy’s economy, as the tourism sector accounts for around 6% of the country’s total GDP.
ADVERTISEMENTIn Fiumicino, a stretch of coastline an hour’s drive from Rome, beach concessions and the lack of a national law regulating them are the main — if not only — talking points.
Beach club operators, known in Italy as lidos, range from businesses renting out sunbeds and umbrellas to those running beachfront restaurants and bars.
Under EU competition rules — known as the Bolkestein Directive, agreed in 2006 — licenses for…