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Tourists banned from Italy’s Capri island over water shortage

The Italian island of Capri banned tourists from disembarking on Saturday after problems with the water supply system threatened to leave the holiday hotspot dry.

Published: 22 June 2024 17:07 CEST

A view of the main port on Italy's Capri island

A view of the main port on Italy's Capri island in April 2024. Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP

The ban by Capri mayor Paolo Falco forced several ferries on their way to the island from Naples and Sorrento in southern Italy to turn back.

The company responsible for supplying the island with water said there had been a technical problem on the mainland on Thursday, and while that had since been fixed, problems with the supply to Capri remained.

Falco warned of “a real emergency” and said that while there was still water on most of the island on Friday, local tanks were “running out”.

“The emergency would be worsened by the arrival of the thousands of tourists which arrive in Capri daily”, he said.

Locals could collect up to 25 litres of drinking water per household from a supply tanker, he said.

The ban, which does not apply to residents, will be in place until further notice.

Capri, in the Bay of Naples, is famous for its white villas, cove-studded coastline and upscale hotels.

There are some 13,000 permanent residents on the island but huge numbers of day-trippers visit it in the summer months.

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Italy and EU reach deal on beach club concessions

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s cabinet has approved a new law to resolve a range of EU infringement procedures against Italy.

They included one launched in 2020 over Rome’s failure to open up beach operators to competition.

“The cooperation between Rome and Brussels has made it possible to find a balance between the need to open the concessions market and the opportunity to protect the legitimate expectations of current concession holders,” Meloni’s office said in statement.

This had allowed both sides “to conclude a long-standing and complex issue of particular importance for our nation”.

Private beach operators provide sun loungers and umbrellas, toilets and showers, restaurants and bars – services many Italians enjoy.

But they can be costly and squeeze out those who cannot or will not pay. And in some areas, such as Rimini on the Adriatic coast, private concessions swallow up 90 percent of beaches.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What’s behind the battle for Italy’s beach clubs?

The EU has been warning Italy for two decades that it had to introduce more competition in the system, where concessions are renewed automatically and often passed down from one generation to the next.

Successive Rome governments ignored the complaints, repeatedly extending the validity of the existing concessions – as Meloni did after taking office.

Under the new plan, Italy will extend the rights of existing operators until September 2027, but require tenders to be opened by June that year at the latest.

The concessions will last between five and 20 years, giving new operators time to recoup their investments.

Lea Zuber, European Commission spokeswoman for competition issues, said on Thursday that Meloni’s government had taken “a major step in the right direction.

“We are hoping that the rules will be brought in conformity as soon as possible, and that we can close the infringement procedure as soon as possible. For now it remains open,” she told reporters.

Critics of the current system say the state has allowed private interests to profit from a public resource belonging to everyone, while paying the state a pittance in exchange.

Some estimates show the state receiving €115 million a year for concessions from an industry worth €15 billion.

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