(Finance) – The Blue Guide to the best seaside and lake coastal resorts of Legambiente and the Italian Touring Club. Presented today, at the national headquarters of Legambiente, the twenty-third edition of “The Most Beautiful Sea 2023” reviews over 400 Italian coastal municipalities, rewarding with the highest award, the Cinque Vele, those who have been able to best combine territories and places of excellence with courageous and innovative sustainable development strategies. I am 21 seaside resorts who have obtained the most coveted banner of the Cinque Vele distributed in 7 regions while they are 12 municipalities on the lakes, distributed in 6 regions, which have obtained the flag of the Cinque Vele.
“Our Guide ‘The Most Beautiful Sea’ as well as being a real photo album of the territorial beauties and riches of our country that have applied good practices, can be compared to a lighthouse in a port – he declared Stefano Ciafani, president of the national Legambiente – a real point of reference which political administrations, private stakeholders and citizens can and must turn to, respectively, to apply new forms of management of these territories and new forms of tourism”.
“Every year, this is the twenty-third, the guide The most beautiful sea returns to bookstores with the punctuality of a classic – he says Franco Iseppi, president of the Italian Touring Club – to review, region by region, from north to south, the 7,500 kilometers of Italian coasts, with a section also dedicated to the most beautiful lakes. Not a ranking, but a geographical mapping that photographs the excellence of Italian seas and lakes and an incentive to reflect on the extraordinary richness of the Italian natural and environmental heritage, on the pleasure of knowing it and on the need to conserve it. The starting point is certainly the data collected by the Goletta Verde of Legambiente on the quality of the waters and beaches. However, many other factors – from the integrity of the landscape to the level of the reception structures, from the weight of tourist flows to the standards of accessibility of the places, from mobility services to the care of the historical and artistic heritage of the territory – contribute to defining an ambitious screening of tourist-environmental quality. The guide The most beautiful sea is an invitation to dream, leafing through its pages and consulting its very rich repertoire of seaside resorts and beaches and to plan a trip or vacation. Ultimately, an invitation to experience the resources of our seas and coasts as a common treasure to be cherished”.
Five Sails SEA – There Sardinia was the most awarded region with 7 localities, followed by Tuscany with 4; there Puglia and the Campania both with 3 locations and Sicily with 2. The classification is closed by Basilicata and Calabria, this year’s new entry, which reaches the top with Tropea. Specifically, in Sardinia, Baunei (Nu) is in first place (also in the general classification), a place that has long adopted the “closed number” strategy, called in a less “elitist” way with the expression “comfortable number” , to express a capacity limit that allows the right coexistence between the environment and its users. Among the other Sardinian towns awarded with the Cinque Vele are Domus de Maria (Su), in the south of the island, Bosa (Or) and Cabras (Or), with the Marine Protected Area of the Sinis Peninsula and the Island of Mal di Ventre, on the north-west coast and again Posada (Nu), Budoni (Ss) and Santa Teresa di Gallura (Ss) on the north-eastern stretch of coast. In Tuscany the Cinque Vele fly between the provinces of Grosseto and Livorno and, in particular, on the island of Capraia (Li) and, further south, in the Maremma municipalities of Castiglione della Pescaia (Gr), of the island of Giglio (Gr ) and of Capalbio (Gr). As for Puglia, alongside the conquest of the podium by Nardò (Le) (second in the general classification) and the confirmation of Porto Cesareo (Le), both in the Alto Salento Jonico, the new entry of Vieste (Fg ) in the Gargano, awarded for the first time. In Campania, along the Cilento coast, the Cinque Vele fly in Pollica-Acciaroli-Pioppi (Sa), third in the general classification, in San Giovanni a Piro (Sa) and in San Mauro Cilento (Sa). A little further south, in Basilicata, the municipality of Maratea (Pz) is also confirmed as Cinque Vele, while in Sicily the most coveted flag flies over two island municipalities, those of Pantelleria (Tp) and Santa Marina Salina (Me).
Five Sails LAKES – Not only the seaside resorts, but also the lake ones have been the subject of analysis and awarding within the Guide of Legambiente and the Italian Touring Club. Among the municipalities on the lakes that have obtained the Cinque Vele flag, it is worth mentioning the new entry of Scanno (Aq), on the lake of the same name in Abruzzo. The autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano are traditionally confirmed as the most awarded with 4 localities and the conquest of first place in the standings with the municipality of Molveno (Tn), a true outpost of a slow revolution which, on the model of the seaside resort of Baunei, has set itself the goal of rethinking the tourism development strategies of the area and limit the number of guests, implementing a study to identify the “right number” of presences that ensures a balance between those who live in the country, those who visit it and the environment. Among the other lake towns that have obtained the highest recognition in Trentino there is also Ledro (Tn) on the homonymous lake; in South Tyrol there are Fiè allo Sciliar (Bz) on the lake of Fie’, Appiano on the wine road (Bz) on the lake of Monticolo. Awarded 2 locations for the Veneto: Alpago (Bl) on Lake Santa Croce and Sospirolo (Bl) on Lake Mis; in Tuscany confirmed the Cinque Vele in Massa Marittima (Gr) on the Accesa lake. Further confirmation compared to last year at two lPiedmontese locations: Avigliana (To) on the lake of the same name and Cannero Riviera (Vb) on Lake Maggiore. For Lombardy, Toscolano Maderno (Bs) and Gardone Riviera (Bs) are confirmed as the best locations, both on the western shore of Lake Garda. The ceremony for the delivery of the Five Sails to the municipalities of the lakes was held in the latter location, within a conference organized for the presentation and signing of the Charter of the Lake to the local administrators, a document created as part of the LIFE Blue project Lakes to counteract the presence of microplastics in lakes and of which Legambiente is the coordinating Beneficiary.
Good practice – Among the novelties of this year the delivery, during the press conference to present the Guide, also of the 9 plates for good coastal management practices assigned to the best experiences that public administrations, organizations or private businesses have implemented. For the category landscape integrity 2 realities were awarded: the Municipality of Lecce for the master plan for the regeneration of its Marinas and the Municipality of Carini (Pa) for its commitment to the fight against illegal building in its territory. For the sustainable mobility 2 initiatives were awarded: for the “Bike to Coast for Everyone” project of the Abruzzo Region, for better accessibility and usability of the cycle paths along the coast for all, and that of the Municipality of Venice, for the use of only electric buses for the urban mobility of Venice Lido and the island of Pellestrina. For the defense strategies against overtourism there are 2 realities that have received the plaque for best practices: the “Isola di Lampedusa” Oriented Nature Reserve for the management of tourist flow demand with methods for limiting, controlling and safeguarding the Isola dei Conigli beach, and the Municipality of San Teodoro (Ss) which has implemented courageous measures to limit access to safeguard the coast. For the theme of fight against climate change the Municipality of Marciana Marina (Li) was awarded for its commitment to the creation of the first Renewable Energy Community (CER) in the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, and the Municipality of Rimini for the extraordinary intervention to adapt to climate change with the redevelopment and pedestrianization of the seafront and the creation of the Parco del Mare. Finally, on the front ofinclusion and accessibility the Associazione Stabilimenti Balneari di Camerota CAB was awarded for the interventions carried out this year within the “Lidi del Parco” project.