The Italian sea is always more beautiful and cleaner, e a tell us about it again this year the Blue flags: eco-label that certifies the quality of the water and the sustainability of lakeside locations as well as coastal ones in 47 countries around the world. As always, the list is drawn up by the Danish NGO Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), which for 2021 he assigned to Italy 416 Blue Flags in 201 municipalities, that is 10% of the beaches awarded worldwide (in 2020 there were 407 beaches in 195 municipalities and in 2019 385 in 183 municipalities) with 15 new entries which you can find in the gallery above.
81, on the other hand, are the tourist landings – that is, the waters adjacent to the ports – awarded this year, with 6 new entry: Marina di Policoro in Basilicata, Portopiccolo in Friuli, the port of Bordighera in Liguria, the tourist port Marina Resort of Bisceglie in Puglia, Capo d’Orlando Marina in Sicily, Marina Resort Portobaseleghe in Veneto.
The recognition, which concerns specific stretches of coast of each locality, is among the most awaited by the seaside resorts, and is the result of a long work that the Fee every year it carries on with the support of ministries of ecological transition, agriculture and tourism and many other national and territorial bodies. Following the candidacy of the Municipalities, we start from the assessment of the quality of the water – certified by the ARPA – which must be “excellent” in the assessments carried out in the last 4 years and then a long list of 32 criteria that comprehensively evaluate the sustainability of each location: they concern for example the accessibility to beaches (also for the disabled), the presence of green areas, pedestrian and cycle paths, the promotion of slow tourism also through environmental education courses aimed at students and tourists, the presence of adequate facilities and services for tourists. I’m constantly updated criteria to encourage municipalities to do better and better, and on the basis of which annual checks are also made to assess whether a locality still deserves them or not. In fact, this year, 9 municipalities lost the banner: Rocca Imperiale in Calabria, Ispani in Campania, Castro in Puglia, Arona and Cannobio in Piedmont, Teulada in Sardinia, Monte Argentario, Montignoso and Pietrasanta in Tuscany.
Despite the excluded, the podium of the most virtuous regions remains sent: even this year in the lead is Liguria, with 32 Blue Flag locations. Campania follows with 19 Flags, Tuscany and Puglia with 17, Marche with 16, Calabria with 15, Sardinia 14, Abruzzo with 13, Lazio with 11. 10, on the other hand, are the flags of Trentino Alto Adige and Sicily, 9 those of Veneto, 7 Emilia, 5 in Basilicata, 2 in Piedmont and Friuli, one the flag for Molise and Lombardy.
“Also this year the Blue Flag program marks an increase in the municipalities that have obtained the recognition,” he said Claudio Mazza, president of FEE Italy. “However, many more are those Municipalities that have chosen to undertake the path and that we support in their growth. The commitment to sustainability in the management of one’s own territory, the care of tourists and their safety, attention to services, combined with the great desire to restart with the tourist season, make Blue Flag Municipalities an engine for the recovery of Italian tourism in this particular historical moment ». Browse the gallery above to see the new Blue Flags
In this gallery some of the most beautiful Blue Flags:
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