interviews: Nina Václaviková
On the island of Capri, where sun-drenched beaches meet sheer limestone cliffs and luxury yachts bob in the Tyrrhenian Sea, a quiet change took place last summer. Cigarettes disappeared.
A sweeping ordinance, passed in 2024, banned smoking on the island’s beaches, with violators facing fines of €25 to €500. Capri officials framed the move as a dual effort: to protect public health and to preserve the island’s postcard-perfect shores from the scourge of cigarette butts.
“It’s about protecting the beauty of the island and respecting those who come here for clean air and clean seas,” Capri’s mayor, Marino Lembo, said when the ban was introduced.
The rules extend beyond cigarettes. Dog owners are now required to leash their pets, carry waste bags, and in crowded areas, even fit muzzles — part of a broader campaign to keep the island’s promenades and beaches pristine. Capri, famed for its elite visitors and delicate ecosystem, is trying to set a standard for sustainable tourism.
The question now is whether other Italian coastal cities might follow.
Trieste, a port city on the Adriatic known for its Habsburg-era cafés and a waterfront that serves both locals and tourists, faces challenges of its own. Its rocky coves and bathing establishments are treasured escapes in the summer months. Yet litter — cigarette butts among the most common offenders — continues to blemish the coastline.
“Cigarette filters don’t just vanish,” said a local environmental activist. “They end up in the sea, in the stomachs of fish, and ultimately back on our plates.”
A smoking ban, as Capri has shown, can be more than symbolic. It can redefine the relationship between a community and its natural spaces. Still, in Trieste, where smoking remains a cultural fixture — espresso and a cigarette often go hand in hand — such a measure might prove controversial.
For now, Trieste’s beaches remain open to smokers. But Capri’s experiment has set a precedent in Italy: that even in a country where smoking is woven into daily life, the tide may be turning, one beach at a time.
