We’ve spent the last month in Italy, a country not particularly known for its many naturist options. But the number of resorts has been steadily growing during the last decade or so. Not just foreigners discovering Italy as a pretty cool destination for nude vacations. Also more and more Italians seem to exchange their yearly vacations to Croatia with something closer to home.
Nude beach-wise, the country also has more to offer than what you see at first sight. Pretty much every province has one or two official nude beaches. The ones you find on many websites. But next to those are often a variety of unofficial ones. Beautiful stretches of untamed nature where one can be as natural as one likes to be.
If these first two paragraphs made you think of some kind of naked paradise, you’re actually not that far off. But Italian nude beaches have a problem. Well, quite a few, actually.
A rant about Italian nude beaches
When we noticed the empty condom package on a trail towards a nude beach in Triëste, we figured that it might be an unlucky coincidence. A few hundred meters further, we learned the hard way that it was not.
Further south, at some beach in Tuscany, a guy came sitting uncomfortably close to us and never stopped looking our way. We wondered if he even blinked. When we picked up our sarongs and moved to somewhere further, he just followed. When we moved once more, he must have gotten the message and went over towards another couple to sit uncomfortably close to them.
At a nearby nude beach, someone came to sit right in front of us. Which is pretty annoying when you’re trying to make a video, because “straight towards the sea” is usually our only decent angle. But he couldn’t know we were filming, so we can’t be mad about that. What made us pretty upset was that he was facing towards us, with his back to the sea. WHO DOES THAT? We can’t think of any decent reason why one would go to the beach and instead of facing the sea, face the people sitting behind you.
At yet another nude beach, we happened to have positioned ourselves in front of some trail going into the dunes, where a continuous stream of men would go in and come out. As if someone was handing out free samples… If that joke just gave you an unwanted mental image, we’re not sorry. Remember, we were front row.
And then there was the guy on a nude beach in Puglia, standing in the waterline. You know how some guys try to secretly touch their penis because they think it will make it look larger? Well that, but not secretly and every other second and a half. We wandered off because that was the last thing we wanted to see that day, but had to pass by him again on our way back. When he saw us coming, he put on a big smile, touched himself another 20 times and then asked: “Where are you guys from?” Lins couldn’t resist throwing out a “You’re a F*** pervert”, and off we went.
Why does this happen on nude beaches?
The reason why we’re dragging Italy into this is just that these are all very recent experiences, so we can talk about them in maybe a bit too much of a graphical way. But this is definitely not just an Italian problem. We can tell you similar stories from nude beaches in other countries.
There’s some controversy here. We often say that we’ve met some of the most amazing people at naturist places, but we also encountered quite a few samples of the human species that we had preferred not to know existed. Why is that? Why do some people find it normal to misbehave at nude beaches? Things like harassment or public sex are equally illegal on a nude beach as on any other beach. So why does this seem to happen more on nude beaches?
The other day, we heard a theory about why Italian gay guys who are still in the closet like to meet up at nude beaches. Because it’s one of the very few places in the country where they can be pretty certain that they won’t encounter anyone from the family. It’s sad that this still needs to happen in 2026, but it makes a lot of sense. They don’t need to be afraid that someone will say something about it.
Unfortunately, the same logic applies to people with far less innocent intentions. A place where nobody wants to make a scene is also a place where bad behaviour often goes unchallenged. Some nude beach visitors will go the extra mile to confront those who misbehave, but the majority will just let it pass. To be fair, we didn’t call out any of the previously mentioned guys either (well, except the one Lins called a pervert). We were there to enjoy the beach, not to get into an argument.
The solution
It would be easy for us to just copy the popular government slogan and tell you to “If You See Something, Say Something”. But we doubt that this will change anything. Again, we’re not blaming you, we don’t always say something either. What we need is a dedicated group of people who make it their purpose to keep nude beaches safe and fun.
This isn’t a new thought, we’ve mentioned the benefits of nude beach clubs several times before on this website, after seeing some very successful cases. Beaches like Abrico in Brazil, Cantarrijan in Spain, or Punta Le Morge in Italy have a dedicated group of visitors keeping the beach safe. At least at certain times. They broke the code. A core group of regulars who know each other, show up consistently, and aren’t afraid to speak up when something’s off. That’s it. So how do we make that happen elsewhere?
The Masterplan
Important to mention is that we can’t apply the following to every possible nude beach. In fact, we should be focusing on “key beaches”, a few beaches within each area. Preferably the most beautiful ones if we get the choice, but any nude beach will do, as long as it has some regular visitors.
We believe that many regulars to a nude beach could be encouraged to get more organised and meet new people along the way, but don’t feel much for filling out the paperwork to create an official club. So what if we drop the official hassle? In fact, we only need a communication channel like a WhatsApp group or a forum. A way to get in touch with each other and organise themselves.
They will also need a calendar. Here, everyone can mark their “dedicated beach time”, the moments when they will be present. Nobody likes to walk up to a perv on their own, but when there are three, four, or five of you, you’ll feel more strength and authority. Making it easier to maintain the nude beach etiquette.
So let’s say that as soon as three “nude beach stewards” agree to be on the beach at the same time, the beach is considered supervised, and these dates and times are published on a website. This way, especially families and single women, but also everyone else who prefers to watch the sunset in all safety and serenity, will know exactly when to be there.
The bigger picture
We know, this sounds great on paper, but it all depends on finding volunteers. Why would people become nude beach stewards while they could just enjoy their Saturday afternoons lying on the beach and ignoring the occasional wanker?
Friendship could be an important reason. All the examples of misbehaviour we gave earlier included men, because that was just the case. But we know that there are many other men going to nude beaches on their own, who would love to make new friends but don’t really dare to chat up to anyone because they are afraid to be misunderstood as yet another creep. This would be a great opportunity to make genuine nude beach friends.
There’s also a more beneficial element as well. Everyone knows that nude beaches are the number one source of new naturists. Well, if their first experience was a good one, at least. A nude beach with a reputation for being safe and welcoming is the single best recruitment tool naturism has. As nude beach stewards, you will make sure that there will be more great first experiences, meaning that there will be more new naturists, meaning more potential customers for the nearby resorts.
You see where we’re going with this, right? For resorts, it would be very interesting if you’d wear their cap or hand out a few flyers. In exchange, they could provide you with free stays, maybe some beach furniture, we don’t know. This is the part of the plan that we didn’t really think through yet. But we’re certain that there must be quite some mutual beneficial options here.
What do you think? Can nude beach stewards be the future for safer and more agreeable nude beaches?
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I like the idea. We have some issues on our (unofficial) local naturist beach here in Norway as well. So a few years back I proposed to our local naturist federation that we could have volunteers to put up “Naturist”-flags/signs on the beach. This to mark a safe spot for genuine naturist.
Didn’t receive any feedback. Maybe it’s because it’s unofficial, so the federation don’t get the mandate…
Strange… Pretty much every official nude beach around the world started as an unofficial one, so taking action on unofficial beaches makes total sense
I live in a naturist/nudist area that is highlight with many formal business facilities for membership, and naturist/nudist lifestyles to enjoy without hassles of such as discussed here. There is a method to apply a solution to your dilemma of having “safe beaches” for everyone to be naturist/nudists and coexist in parody and peace and as it is called in this article “safe beaches”. Your idea of wanting to welcome a method is not new. Method as defined as progressing to what is the result of such a method, to produce a defined result of “SAFE BEACHES” for naturist/nudist areas. The method mentioned here is not one that produces results. Volunteer management is not a management method, as it may work some but not to produce the full results. Without the full results it is a statement the method is not working. Now my experience to a full result, you may think a bit over needed methods however when approaching human primal mind set, partially solving the situation is not suitable as the thorn is only distanced to another part of the beach, for a short time as it is still a malignant moving beach geography, that eventually Metastasizes (invades again) when one thinks the solution is accomplished. There is a solution as proven in Florida U S A.
The solution to gain “safe beaches” is tied to local or national laws. In the U S they are called sexual predator laws. Also the method of patrol of the beach for security sake happens with NOT volunteers, but with a very inexpensive way of part time paid seniors (VETTED as upstanding citizens, and with a cell phone manditory) to just sit and observe, and walk some not often and report, what is happening to local police that show up informed, with a phone call, from the senior (old person nudist blending in, as nudist, and beach patrol. Police arrive in uniform with police cars, and know what to look for, from the beach patrol phone call. The senior just communicates on the phone, DOES NOT, NOT, NOT expose him or her self, they stay nude, and on the beach, and are the eyes of the solution only.
The person or persons involved are identified by the police, once on the beach, in uniform, and arrests are made. The pentiles are very, very strong, like first after identifying the law breaker, they are arrested, and there car is impounded, and towed to a police lot, to be held until after a court hearing before a judge. Penalties can be very high as $$$$ and potential days in prison first offense, and the person if convicted is listed on a public sex offender listing, and published in crime listings for public to see. The criminal is identified as a sexual offender on the public documentation. The offender has a permanent police record with picture for public view. If a visitor, Passports are taken and that person is not allowed to leave until after the Judge hearing. could be a longer time in prison waiting for court hearing. If non-citizen PASSPORT CANCELLED if convicted.Their picture and crime is listed in a public listing if convicted. All this is a very expensive way to go to the beach and misbehave. The ramifications are extensive both socially, and financially if found guilty. more info is available but not here. You get the idea it works and is impeccably effective. This Method Solves such from happening.
Wonderful article.
The protectors of Blind Creek Beach in St. Lucie County, Florida, Treasure Coast Naturists, have a Beach Ambassador program very similar to what you’re proposing.
You can find more information at:
https://www.treasurecoastnaturists.org/beach-ambassadors
Yes, indeed, Florida already has a beach ambassador system on certain beaches
We’ve woken from a beach snooze to be greeted by a man standing over us happily tugging his penis! So yes, beach wardens may be a good idea and help protect us all from the seedy side of being naked in public. That guy isn’t any face of naturism that we welcome.
There maybe a different warden thing to consider though. Being relaxed, away from work/life pressure and reconnecting as a couple often sparks the intimacy that we often lose in day to day living. I’m sure that at some point we’ve all felt a little ‘fruity’ with our partner and found a little privacy on the beach or in the sea. A few hundred meters away from others, discrete, a touch, leading to another touch etc etc you get the picture. If we see another couple some distance away enjoying this intimacy we simply look away and leave them to it. I would hope the wardens would do the same. I’m not in any way advocating rampant sex be acceptable but that sensuous joyous sharing of each other, that furtive fiddle; that’s not offensive, that’s normal.
I’m sorry, but behavior that’s unacceptable on a textile beach is equally unacceptable on a nude beach.
Different people have different opinions about what is and isn’t acceptable. The general idea is though that you keep your fiddling for private spaces. How much or how little beach wardens will care about this will all be their personal choice, I guess
I think it would be a great idea to have beach stewards! Can they be naked too and get discounts and free admission? They would have to have perks for the job they do. Love your posts!
Of course they can be naked and in the best execution of our master plan they would absolutely get discounts and other perks
well said in fla they have a group who gets trained as beach ambassador then they will be ready to confront the perverts blind creek and haulover both have them i have spoken up to a few to