Mayor Paolo Falco's measure to protect tourists: “insistent operators” risk fines of up to €694 if they are found to be in violation of the ordinance.
The news
While some are concerned and terrified by overtourism, others are protecting tourists. This is the case in the beautiful retreat of Campania. On June 13, Paolo Falco, mayor of Capri—one of the two municipalities on the island in the Gulf of Naples—issued an anti-petulance ordinance to protect tourists “harassed” by restaurant owners. Those arriving on the island are often inundated with menus, brochures, flyers, maps, and all kinds of advertising material with which business owners try to convince visitors to choose their goods or services. The mayor felt “it necessary to issue a measure identifying behaviors to be avoided,” the ordinance reads.
Essentially, Falco's decision prohibits businesses operating on public land under concession—i.e., bars, restaurants, and other restaurants—from carrying out promotional activities on that land. This decision also affects those offering boat tours in Marina Grande, who are prohibited from soliciting passengers disembarking from hydrofoils—who are often still suffering from jet lag, given that a third of visitors are US nationals—to persuade them to discover the beauty of the sea around Capri.
With the aim of enforcing the ordinance, a fine of €694 will be imposed on those who violate the ban, with the possibility of suspending activities for up to three days in the event of repeated behavior. Falco's measure was immediately welcomed by the National Consumers Union, which supported the initiative with a post on Facebook. "In recent years, we have witnessed the uncontrolled spread of behavior that misleads people in their choices, exploits the naivety of visitors, and compromises the dignity of public spaces. Illegally occupying sidewalks, stairways, pedestrian streets, or historic views of the island to place flyers, offers, and impromptu promotions is an offense to the law and the common good. The time has come to say enough is enough," reads the comment that described Falco's action as long-awaited, courageous, and necessary.
The ordinance is based on the need to preserve the delicate and fragile “ecosystem” of Capri. Suffice it to say that in recent years, the island of the Faraglioni has experienced a sharp increase in tourist numbers, with peaks of more than 30,000 visitors in a single day in the summer of 2024 (compared to a total population of 15,000 inhabitants between Capri and Anacapri) and tourism, which has increased by 25% over the last decade, without a corresponding increase in infrastructure and transport to and from the island.
