“I have always believed that the battle of free beaches was a sacrosanct battle of civilization”, with these words Josi Gerardo Della Ragione, mayor of Bacoli, in the province of Naples, continues his battle for legality.
Now known for his strong interventions (and many administrations should follow his example) in many of the issues concerning the common good and the defense of citizens, Della Ragione now aims to have the public reappropriate a good part of the military beaches that arise along the Bacoli coast.
We have carefully studied all the concessions issued to military beaches on our beaches, in state-owned areas. We have recovered all the papers, documents. And we discovered that the private concessionaires of the military establishments have exceeded the occupancy of the beach, with umbrellas and deck chairs, by over 25 thousand square meters. Practically, the concessions issued by the Italian Government in 1995 coincide with the surface area that is fenced in winter. And not with the one occupied in the summer, all the way to the shore.
What are we talking about?
In Bacoli, in the heart of the Campi Flegrei, there have been military beaches of the Navy and Air Force for decades for historical, strategic and logistical reasons.
The Bacoli area, together with Miseno and Pozzuoli, has historically been a maritime military hub since Roman times. Right in Miseno, a few kilometers from there, there was the Roman imperial fleet, the most important naval base of the Empire. In the following centuries, the strategic position of the Gulf of Pozzuoli remained crucial: it controls access to the Tyrrhenian Sea and is located very close to Naples, home to military commands and infrastructures.
In Bacoli and in the nearby municipality of Monte di Procida there have always been logistics and training installations of the Italian Navy, linked to the Nisida base and the Naples Logistics Command.
The Navy military lido is a bathing establishment reserved for military personnel and families, created after the war for recreational purposes, exploiting state-owned maritime areas already under military jurisdiction. The same goes for the Air Force, which has always had a strong presence in the metropolitan area of Naples (Capodichino base and Pozzuoli Air Force Academy, founded in 1961). Bacoli represented – and still represents – an ideal area for the leisure of military personnel and military families. For this reason, the beaches were established as military “recreational clubs”, as also exists for the Army.
But it seems that they have exaggerated and Della Ragione wants to set a limit.
Mayor Della Ragione’s decision
I signed the letter which obliges the military beaches of Bacoli to free 25,000 m2 of beach in Miseno and Miliscola. Twenty-five thousand square meters. It is a huge piece of beach, hundreds and hundreds of meters long. Everyone will be able to enjoy it. Now and, above all, as early as next summer. Today we are making a historical point that restores a denied right.
I signed the letter which obliges the military beaches of Bacoli to free 25,000 m2 of beach in Miseno and Miliscola….
Posted by Josi Gerardo Della Ragione on Monday, October 27, 2025
What emerged from the analysis of the concessions issued to military beaches on the beaches, in state-owned areas, is that the private concessionaires of the military establishments would have exceeded the occupation of the beach, with umbrellas and deck chairs, for over 25,000 square meters.
Practically, the concessions issued by the Italian Government in 1995 coincide with the surface area that is fenced in winter. And not with the one occupied in the summer, all the way to the shore. This is how we free a piece of the city. A huge stretch of beach, very precious: because it is all facing the sea. (…) From demolished illegal warehouses, to demolished fences, to liberated beaches. Miseno and Miliscola will have 50% free beach.
Miseno and Miliscola represent the two largest coastal areas of Bacoli: right here, the mayor Della Ragione is carrying out a battle against illegal construction, to return kilometers of beach to citizens and restore legality.
And this is another piece.
