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The beach resort of Monterosso, the largest village of the Cinque Terre in Liguria, north Italy. It's typically small, stony and crowded with pay umbrellas, though pleasant nonetheless. Click on the image for more Italy Beach Pictures.

Italy, with plenty of sun and 8,500 km [5,345 miles] of coastline, is one of Europe's prime destinations for beach holidays though many of the beaches - especially on the mainland - are small, rocky or shingle and packed with local people, especially at the weekends. The Italian part of the Mediterranean Sea is pretty warm by June and a perfect temperature between July and September - providing the sun has been busy during early summer.
As far as sea nasties are concerned, sharks or other deadly critters are not at play in the Mediterranean, though small jellyfish may multiply considerably if the sea is particularly warm and can cause unpleasantness. Weaver fish with their toxic needles and habit of snuggling into the sand of shallow waters are rare but not unknown.

Italy's Riviera in Liguria - that's north Italy stretching from France to Tuscany - sports some of the most popular beaches in the country.
The Riviera, adjacent or even including some Cinque Terre villages, is a series of small towns clustered in bays surrounded by tree-clad hills and many are connected by fast ferries April-Oct or a very convenient railway, especially useful since access to the towns by road is complex and parking is nigh on impossible in midsummer.
The Riviera is primarily frequented by Italians so living is not costly and food and drink supplies are good quality, though pay-parasols tend to hog most of the beaches.
Though beaches can be a far from peaceful, they are often quite enchanting - young and old in bikinis, packed like sardines into small free beach areas, or cruising up and down the sands nattering to the neighbours like a busy Italian market day.
Watersports are often limited to pedalos, snorkelling, kayaking and windsurfing. i.e. Jetskiers had better look elsewhere.

Rome's nearest beach resort, Ostia, is notoriously tacky and unpleasant but about 1.5 hours southwest of Rome and halfway to Naples are a couple of good size strips of sand: one, Terracina, is huge and relatively undeveloped with plenty of free space, though the tranquil town of that name is quite a walk away, so transport is useful.
The other, Sperlonga, is a classic beach resort with long promenade, packed parasol pay areas and limited free sand squatting. Pictures of the two beaches appear on the next couple of pages.

Women only beach in Riccione, North Italy:
An unusual though possibly discrimatory [and thus illegal] beach is open on Italy's Adriatic coast at Riccione, beach 134 also known as Pink Beach. Men and children are forbidden though a male hairdresser and lifeguard are permitted, as are dogs. The beach is not a lesbian stamping ground, more of a opportunity for oppressed Italian females to escape from male-dominated society for a while. Services on offer include beauty tips, keep-fit classes, cookery classes and manicures.

Adriatic and Mediterranean Islands: Some of the most beautiful of Italy's beaches can be found around the Adriatic and Amalfi coasts or on the islands such as Sicily, which has large sandy beaches on the southern coast, while arguably the best are in Sardinia, many of which are still unspoilt. See the Sardinia Travel page.

Jellyfish plague: In late summer 2006 much of the Mediterranean - from Spain's Costa del Sol thru France's south coast and down Italy as far as Sicily - suffered from jellyfish invasion, specifically the mauve stinger or Pelagia noctiluca [so called because they glow at night]. The stings are painful and unpleasant but not generally life-threatening, unless a swimmer has a weak heart, a sever allergic reaction or panics on encountering a shoal of blobbies and drowns...
The cause of the stinger explosion is the usual suspect - global warming boosting water temperatures by a couple of degrees as well as increased pollution-derived nutrients and reduced cool freshwater entering from rivers. However, overfishing of anchovies [which compete with jellies for plankton salad], turtles and tuna fish [which eat jellies for dessert] has also aided the mauve climate avenger's expansionist tendencies.
What's being done?
Spain is organising fleets of volunteer blob-spotters and scooper boats to take the flabby boogers far out to sea [environmentalists don't want them eradicated] while France is setting up 2 metre deep stinger nets off major resorts. Cannes is leading the defensive movement.
According to experts winds and water currents should keep jellies off Italy in 2007, so Italian authorities are taking no action.

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