The mayors of some of Italy's most elegant resorts have expressed outrage at a new regulation introduced by Silvio Berlusconi's government that allows beachfront premises to stage drink-and-dance parties seven days a week.
Bizarrely, the measure was introduced as part of a revision of the traffic laws whose main purpose was to cut down on drink-driving. The vast majority of Italians get to the seaside by car, scooter or motorbike. Once at the beach, they will now have access to as much drink as they want from 5pm to 8pm before setting off for home or a night out.
"It's unbelievable," said Domenico Lombardi, the mayor of Pietrasanta in Tuscany. "It's like saying to a youngster, 'Before you drive to the discotheque, do a bit more boozing. [Drink] twice as much!' "
Lombardi and other officials on one of Europe's most exclusive stretches of coastline are also worried about the effect the new law could have on tourists who pay handsomely for peace and quiet. At Forte dei Marmi, a favourite with wealthy Russians, the asking price last week for a small two-bedroom flat, 100 yards from the sea, was €1.2m (£1m).
The town's mayor, Umberto Buratti, told the Observer: "Ours is high-quality tourism. Here we have exactly 100 beach concessions. If they are all allowed to open every evening, we will have 100 beach bar-restaurants and the character of the beach will be changed out of all recognition. People come here looking for peace and quiet."
However, the president of the Automobile Club of Italy (ACI), Enrico Gelpi, echoed a widespread perception when he said the new act, which came into force at the end of last month, would "promote more attentive and responsible behaviour on the part of young people, who are particularly exposed to risk on the roads".
Among other things, the legislation requires learner drivers to take a narcotics test as a condition of being issued with a licence. It sets the permitted blood alcohol level for drivers under the age of 21 at virtually nil. But tucked away in article 54, clause 2, is a sentence which says that beach concessions can put on dance parties "together with the supply of alcoholic beverages every day of the week".
Giordano Biserni, the president of Asaps, a national road safety organisation, said: "This is a measure that has nothing to do with road safety. On the contrary, it puts it at risk."
Some councils said they thought they could mitigate the effects of the new legislation with existing municipal bylaws. But one of the sponsors of the amendment that inserted the controversial clause, a Northern League deputy, Gianluca Pini, whose constituency includes the low-cost holiday resorts around Rimini on the Adriatic coast, said: "They can put a limit on the volume of the music. But they cannot restrict the parties to [for example] only two days [a week]."
Italy has one of Europe's worst road safety records. In 2008, the last year for which comparative figures were available, there were 4,731 deaths on the roads out of a population of 58 million people, according to Tispol, the European Traffic Police Network. In the same year in the UK, which has a population of 61 million, there were 2,538 fatalities. The ACI's figures indicate that 30% of the accidents in Italy involve drivers who have held a licence for less than three years.
Seaside areas, packed with discos, have some of the most dangerous roads, particularly at weekends. Last weekend, police on the coast near Rome organised spot checks of 180 drivers, and 25 were found to have been driving under the influence of drink or drugs
