Italian town beloved by Instagrammers bans bikinis

Mayor enforces new dress code on pastel seaside town that’s a regular on social media

Sorrento, on Italy’s Amalfi Coast (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A picturesque Italian town that’s a favourite with photographers and Instagrammers has banned tourists from wandering around in bikinis.

Visitors to Sorrento, on Italy’s southwestern Amalfi Coast, could be fined up to €500 (£425) for strolling around in a two-piece under new rules introduced by mayor Massimo Coppola.

Holidaymakers who walk around shirtless are also being targeted by the ban.

Mr Coppola told press that skimpily clad tourists were causing “discomfort and unease” to locals, reports The Times.

He says he wants to crack down on “widespread indecorous behaviour” that is “seen by the majority of people as contrary to decorum and to the decency that characterises civilised cohabitation”.

“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.

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.

Sorrento is a popular stop on the Amalfi Coast, a favourite with influencers and young couples for its picture-perfect pastel buildings and clifftop restaurants dropping down to the sea.

It’s not the only place to crack down on tourist dress codes: a group of restaurants on the popular holiday island of Mallorca have banned tourists wearing certain clothes associated with “drunken tourism”.

Eleven venues associated with the Palma Beach brand in the party resort of Playa de Palma have created a new dress code, which prohibits swimwear, trunks and strapless “boob tube” tops.

Meanwhile, a tourist was apprehended by police on the Philippines island of Boracay in 2019 for the skimpiness of her bikini.

She was questioned by local authorities before being fined PHP 2,500 (£39) for her “erotic and lewd” swimwear.