Your own beach living room

Abstract

Beach concession operators seem to always conceive innovative ways as to how to best utilise the restricted sandy swathes on these islands. For instance, hordes of sofas have recently been placed at Armier, and a handful of other beaches, literally turning the beach into a private living room and further elbowing out those who rightly refuse to pay to use a public amenity. Two of the accompanying photos show two very different beach realities to those in Malta. Italy’s Adriatic coastline is fringed with some of the most economically important sandy beaches in the Mediterranean, including those of Rimini and Lido di Jesolo. These beaches are dominated by monotonous rows of beach furniture, perfectly aligned on the beach from the early hours of morning. However, the 15 metres of beach closest to the shoreline are out of bounds to the beach furniture operators, with the public free to roam round to their heart’s content.