20®iviera: a sustainable public sea resort, and a lesson of excellence

Mainstream sea-sun-sand tourism can be sustainable, if there's a deep commitment to the core principles of sustainability and resilience on the side of enterprises and operators in the sectors. Actually, there's nothing better than raising awareness about sustainability in the pleasant environment of a seaside resort, and not only through words, but also through virtuous examples.

That's exactly what happens at 20®iviera. 20®iviera is a public seaside resort located in Varigotti, one of the most exclusive destinations of the Palma Riviera in North-West Italy. Formerly a slice of beach long abandoned, it was fully re-qualified after a municipal call for proposal. The winning project foresaw the creation of a sustainable beach, socially, economically and environmentally. Once turned into a functioning reality, 20®iviera by doing good is doing very well. Access, showers, toilets, and other services are for free, plus it's possible to rent equipment for sea/beach sports, sun umbrellas and sun beds. Locals and tourists seem to really love this format and what 20®iviera stands for.

I am writing in its de-hors right now, and some of the Agenda 2030 goals and targets are under my eyes, materialized into actions, physical objects, choices.[1]

The name 20®iviera refers to the 20 Italian regions plus the Liguria Riviera, which stretches from Tuscany to the French coast. The four partners who created the project are 2 men and 2 women, with the latter controlling 70% of the sharing. Gender balance and female empowerment were embedded in the project from the onset, and they remain mainstream through positive actions, like employing a female bay-watcher - a traditionally male and still male-dominated job - and investing in female professionalism. The beach-volley trainer is a talented girl, and the beach is one of the few in the area with a beach-volley court. The beach volley court is watered with recycled water.

Recycled water is used for toilets, as well, and the filtered sea water is the main resource for waterworks.

Almost everything is recycled and recyclable. The entire structure is fully removable, and built with pallets. Glasses, straws, dishes, towels and so on are organic and biodegradable.

I just arrived when Mauro, one of the four partners, showed me proudly the initiative to educate kids to sustainability and waste management. An ice pop for free for every kid who helps to clean the beach from cigarette butts. Cigarette butts that, by the way, are brought by the sea, as at 20®iviera smokers are provided with little portable ashtrays for free. They are available at the entrance, together with biodegradable sun creams. The initiative is meant to remind swimmers that sun creams are necessary, but they are pollutants, so 100% biodegradable ones should be preferred. 

The staff is proactively informing guests with info-points. And not only guests: the staff includes a migrant and 3 asylum seekers. Taking advantage of a Liguria regional project to train migrants/refugees in Italian companies and associations, 20®iviera employs four newcomers from the African continent, who through a stage are familiarized with the way a successful beach-resort works, and with best practices in sustainability.

The philosophy of the beach is first of all inclusiveness, and this applies to the staff and to the guests. All accesses are guaranteed to persons with disabilities. Disables are rightly considered equal guests with special needs. So they pay - for the services which are not free - like any other guest, but they are not asked to pay for the services they are entitled to. Therefore, caregiver or those who accompany persons with disabilities do not pay normally payment services. 20®iviera has at the disposal of persons with disabilities a J.O.B chair, a new model of wheelchair to enter the sea in safety and comfort. The beach has the "Bandiera Lilla", the Italian flag given to places that promote equal access to services for persons with disabilities. (see: https://www.bandieralilla.it/) 

The promotion of equality, empowerment and inclusiveness are principles that give shape also to the 20®iviera's cultural initiatives. In an effort to mend a too selective reading of history, the partners decided to make available narghile tobacco pipes at sunset. This beach hosted in the past Saracen communities, and the memory of times of common enjoyment of the Mediterranean coasts, sea and sun is thus recalled and made a living one again. You can smoke a narghile and recall how shared ancestors used to love and live this place as you do today.

The culture of the past, and the culture of the present. 20®iviera offers a degustation of local tastes during the lunch time, at the aperitivo - a must-do in Italy - and for dinner. All products available are regional ones, most of them bio and km0. The beach has also its own app to order piazzas to a close-by pizzeria. Of course, free wifi for all. And that’s how I am working now ;-)   

So far for the human culture and rights. But what about animal's ones?

There's a section of the beach dedicated to pets and pets' owners. It's kept clean and dogs here can swim freely, whereas in the beaches that accept dogs normally they are not allowed to swim from 7am to 7pm.

Eco-friedly, pet-friendly, 20®iviera is a sample of how mass tourism can be different, if it consistently embeds principles of sustainability.

For more information, 20®iviera is online at the following links: www.20r.it and fb/20Riviera, Sara replies in English, if needed

...feel good and do good on holiday :-)

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[1] In particolar: 4.7; 5.5; 6.3; 8.8 and 8.9; 9.1 and 9.c; 10.2; 12.4; 14.1; 17.9. See the full text of Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, available at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld (retrieved July 02, 2018).