One of Italy’s most famous seaside destinations will officially have the first “smoke-free” beach of the country once the next summer season rolls around.
Bibione has officially banned all cigarettes from its beach. Image by assalve/Getty Images
Located in the province of Venice, the village of Bibione (a hamlet of the town of San Michele al Tagliamento) has successfully approved its “Breathe the Sea Air” project, which completely bans cigarettes from the eight kilometres of Bibione’s seaboard and beach.
Bibione started experimenting with this project in 2011, and up until now, it was forbidden to smoke only on the water’s edge— the area that goes from the first row of seabeds to the actual waves of the Adriatic Sea. Now, cigarettes can’t be smoked anywhere near the beach. “It’s not so much a ban as it is an effort to give people who want to spend their holidays here and breathe in good sea air to do so, without them having to suffer substances that are a health hazard,” commented the town’s mayor, Pasqualino Codognotto, in a statement.
According to the town’s mayor, this project is trying to promote a culture of respect for the other. Image by DeAgostini/Getty Images
The project will be officialised in May, with the launch of an information campaign and the establishment of proper rules— including the fines for those who don’t respect them. The town will also build a series of smoking areas, which will be in the vicinity of the beach but nowhere on it.
Bibione’s fame began rising in the Fifties thanks to the long beaches made of fine sands, the pinewoods and the lagoon, which offer a remarkable set of diverse environments in a very small area. In recent years, it has become the second most popular seaside town after Rimini, in the region of Emilia-Romagna.
Bibione has been a popular seaside destination for Italians and foreigners alike since the Fifties. Image by Kurt Hamann/ullstein bild/Getty Images
If you’d like to know more about Bibione and its “Breathe the Sea Air” project, you can check its official website here.
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