[imagesource: Viator]

Tourists, local and international, flock to picturesque Sorrento, on Italy’s southwestern Amalfi Coast, to get the money shot.

The only difference now is that folks can’t do it in a bikini, or any skimpy swimwear for that matter.

Indeed, the local mayor has banned tourists from traipsing through the streets and along the beaches in revealing swimming costumes.

Mayor Massimo Coppola is generally cracking down on what he called “widespread indecorous behaviour”, which includes a ban on going shirtless, no matter what your gender.

At least it’s not entirely a move to control what women wear.

It has been widely reported that Coppola reasons that skimpily clad tourists were causing “discomfort and unease” to locals, which he reckons is behaviour “contrary to decorum and to the decency that characterises civilised cohabitation”.

He goes on, via The Independent:

“The continuation of this situation, as well as causing discomfort and unease in the resident population and among visitors, could lead to a negative judgment on the quality of life in our town, with consequences for its image and for tourism,” added Mr Coppola.

That’s not even the most OTT perspective out there:

Local journalist Max Tamanti called the bikini-clad masses a “macabre procession” and said they were turning Amalfi’s towns into a scene from Dante’s Inferno.

Jeez, when you put it like that…

The small Italian town, overlooking the Gulf of Naples, saw as many as three million visitors a year before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, in the post-pandemic push to transform the impact of tourism on local communities, tourists could be slapped with a fine of up to €500 (around R8 500) for strolling around in a two-piece, or whatever else is deemed “indecorous”.

Time Out has some good news about the ban:

But don’t worry, the Campanian town isn’t banning bikinis and toplessness everywhere.

The new rules don’t apply to people at beach clubs or at swimming pools, so you’ll still have somewhere to get those tan lines.

A heads up that these sorts of rules exist elsewhere, too, The Local reports:

Lipari, the largest of Sicily’s Aeolian islands, introduced a similar rule back in 2013, after residents kicked up a fuss about tourists wearing skimpy swimwear in the city centre.

Tropea, one of Calabria’s most popular seaside resorts, followed suit in July 2019, when Mayor Giovanni Macrì forbade residents and visitors from wearing swimwear far from the local beaches, as well as strolling around town barefoot.

In Barcelona, the penalty can be as much as €300 (R5 100) while in Majorca the fee goes all the way up to €600 (R10 200).

Venice also has plenty of rules to watch out for.

I guess you’ll have to be more creative in order to get that “I’m in Italy” thirst trap from now on.

[sources:timeout&independent&local]