If you are planning a beach holiday in Italy, don't go to Eraclea, near Venice, if you or the kids enjoy building sandcastles - it's a criminal activity there. Italian mayors have been given sweeping powers to "protect public security" and they have been exercising them in bizarre ways. Public kissing, squeaky sandals, and ball games on the beach have all been banned by various zealous officals, but the good bureaucrats of Eraclea, farsightedly anticipating risks to the public, have banned sandcastles as obstructive to walking on the beach and thus dangerous. Collecting shells and sand is also banned (arenophiles, please note) and all these activities are subject to heavy fines.
Italy, the country where seismologists can be indicted for manslaughter, and new kebab shops banned as a threat to its culinary heritage, is an idiosyncratic palce, to put it mildly. And I won't even begin to comment on its politics in general.....
I just had to know why:
"The coastal town of Eraclea, near Venice, prohibits the building of sandcastles on the beaches because they can "obstruct the passage" of people strolling along the strand."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/7868442/Kissing-in-cars-feeding-stray-cats-and-building-sandcastles-all-banned-in-Italy.html
And here, I thought the mayor might be afraid that they were filled with little sand armies that might march forth and cause, I don't know, parking problems?
But this sandcastle is a knockout!
http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/no-sandcastles-its-law-7
I wish it were a higher resolution image.
Posted by: F | July 13, 2010 at 05:26 AM