Sea: Sardinia takes the Five Sails record, Sicily first time out. Here are all the award-winning municipalities
The award given by Legambiente and Touring Club based on environmental characteristics and quality of hospitality
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Key points
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Among the many awards to the beautiful beaches, as every summer came the Five Sails, the prize awarded by Legambiente and Italian Touring Club to Italian coastal municipalities (with a section also dedicated to lakes) that combine the quality of services to tourists with innovative choices for environmental sustainability.
The Five Most Beautiful Seas
.For 2024, the Five Sails were awarded to 33 municipalities, 21 on the sea and 12 on lakes, out of a total of 432 (354 marine and 78 lake). First place among seaside resorts is Pollica, in Campania's Cilento region, with its Acciaroli and Pioppi hamlets. In second place Nardò, in the Salento region of Puglia. Then, in order, Baunei in eastern Sardinia and Domus De Maria in southern Sardinia, then Castiglione della Pescaia in the Tuscan Maremma.Sardinia is the Region with the most awards (seven), while Sicily remains out of the top honours for the first time.
The Best Lakes
.As far as lakes are concerned, the autonomous provinces of Trentino and Alto Adige remain the queens, in first and second place with Molveno (Trento), on the lake of the same name, and Appiano sulla Strada del Vino (Bolzano), on Lake Monticolo. Third place for Massa Marittima (Grosseto), a Maremma resort on Lake Accesa in Tuscany. In fourth place is Sospirolo (Belluno), on Lake Mis, in Veneto, and in fifth Avigliana, on the lake of the same name in Piedmont.
Rating on ambience and hospitality
.The 432 locations examined by Legambiente and Touring Club have been included in the guidebook 'The Most Beautiful Sea 2024'. The Sails assess environmental characteristics and the quality of hospitality. The parameters are land use, landscape degradation, biodiversity, tourism activities; state of coastal areas; mobility; water and purification; energy; waste; sustainability initiatives; food safety and quality typical productions; sea, beaches and beyond; social and health structure.
New to this year's Sails are the 33 sea turtle-friendly municipalities, marked with the special 'turtle' symbol. These are those administrations which, through a special memorandum of understanding, have undertaken to adopt a series of measures to make their beaches welcoming to turtles laying their eggs.
