Palermo

Mondello, TAR decision overturned: beach management returns to Italo Belga

The judges of the Council of Administrative Justice upheld the Italo Belgian company's appeal and suspended the measure by which the Regional Territory Department had declared the concession of a large part of the beach forfeited

by Rome Editorial Staff

22 May 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Appeal upheld
Administration rejection
From the region to the municipality: reactions

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The management of Mondello beach in Palermo returns to the Italo Belgian company. At least until 30 September. This is the decision of the Administrative Court of Justice for the Sicilian Region which, in fact, confirmed the decision of its president Ermanno de Francisco last 25 April and overturned that of the Regional Administrative Court.

The appeal was upheld

The administrative judges of the second instance upheld the Italo Belga company's appeal and suspended the decision by which the Regional Territory Department had declared the concession of a large part of the beach forfeited. As mentioned, it is a decision in line with the one taken by the president, Ermanno de Francisco, who on 25 April last had upheld on appeal the Italo Belga company's request for a suspension of the concession.

The rejection of administrations

The decision of the Cga rejects both the municipality and the regional administration, which - the judges write, as reported by Agi - did not provide the tools for an orderly and proper management of the Mondello beach after the revocation of the concession to Italo Belga: if this had happened, therefore, public interests would not have been endangered, not only those of the excluded company, but also those of the people entitled to an orderly enjoyment of the coastline. For the judges, the company could not be expelled, since it was in any case the holder of a 'substantial situation', except by expressly disapplying an internal legislative rule for the benefit of a Community rule.

The Municipality of Palermo, it says, has also been at fault in the matter: the "measures provided for by the resolution of the municipal council of Palermo 131 of 2026 (the so-called Mondello Plan)" are considered totally insufficient. "On the one hand," writes the Cga, "these are measures that are independent of the subject matter of the concessionary relationship and that the Municipality was and is required, in any case, to put in place, beyond the forfeiture measure in question and even regardless of it". Not only: 'The manager of the financial service of the Municipality of Palermo', in an official opinion, 'acknowledged the provision of non-structural, one-off financial coverage, 'for two months' and not for the entire season'.

From the Region to the Municipality: reactions

"We defer to the Cga's decision on the Mondello issue, even if personally I do not agree with it, we had followed a rigorous procedure and prepared a valid alternative for the management of the Sicilian capital's most beautiful beach, demonstrating to the many Sicilians - and not only - that when there are grey areas the institution I represent knows how to intervene with resolve". This was said by the Councillor for Land and Environment, Giusi Savarino, after the Cga's ruling. "Our action was initiated to free Mondello from the irregularities and mafia shadows highlighted by the Prefecture," she added. "We are waiting for September for the judgement on the merits. In any case, the Region and the Municipality are working, with the Pudm and the deadlines dictated by the Bolkestein directive, on a new vision for Mondello, capable of combining free beaches and investments by entrepreneurs ready to bet, with enthusiasm and renewed energy, on Palermo's coastline'.

"The Cga's pronouncement, of which we take note, intervenes in a complex and delicate affair from a legal and administrative point of view and in the management of the Mondello coastline. In these months of uncertainty, the municipal administration has operated with a sense of responsibility and in full awareness of the need to guarantee, in any case, the use of the beach, the safety of users and essential services for citizens and bathers". This was said by the mayor of Palermo, Roberto Lagalla. "Regardless of the possible developments in the dispute and the measures adopted over time by the other entities involved, we had in any case prepared an operating plan based on an initial economic withdrawal from the reserve fund, rightly considered a one-off by the Municipality's General Accounting Department, and on the forecast of a further financial provision from the budget currently being approved by the City Council and from the expected regional subsidies. All this in the event that the concessionaire's ban could have lasted for the entire summer season. The municipality, therefore, has the serene awareness of having done its part to the full in the public interest and in the interest of the city. And it would have continued in this direction even if the entire Mondello seafront had remained free. In the light of the Cga's decision, those resources can now be allocated to work on the rest of the city's coastline, so as to further strengthen the services of cleanliness, decorum, accessibility and safety along Palermo's open-access shorelines. In any case, rulings are respected and applied even when one may be of a different opinion'.