Tourists visiting parts of Italy’s Veneto coast this summer face fines for smoking on the beach, as resorts expand smoke-free rules across some of the country’s busiest seaside destinations.
Beach bans spread across Veneto
The restrictions are spreading across beaches including Jesolo, Bibione, Eraclea Mare, Caorle, Sottomarina and Isola Verde. In some areas the rules cover cigarettes only, while in Bibione they now also include vapes.
In Jesolo, one of Veneto’s main coastal resorts, smoking has been banned across the entire stretch of sand since 1 May. Visitors who want to smoke must use dedicated areas set up by beach concessionaires. Anyone who ignores the rule risks an administrative fine of €50.
The move marks a significant expansion from last year, when Jesolo restricted smoking only in the area closest to the sea. The 2026 beach ordinance extends the ban across the sandy beach, while still allowing smoking in designated areas, on the seafront and in some kiosks that choose not to opt into the wider ban.
Bibione includes vapes in new rules
Bibione, which has been moving towards smoke-free beaches for more than a decade, has gone further. The resort first adopted its “Respira il Mare” project in 2011 and now limits both smoking and vaping across its nine kilometres of beach. Smoking and vaping are allowed only in 40 designated smoking areas.
Other Veneto resorts are taking a more gradual approach.
In Caorle, restrictions apply to the area closest to the sea, while Eraclea Mare introduced a beach smoking ban this season. Sottomarina and Isola Verde have been smoke-free for six years, with designated spaces left for smokers.
Health, litter and harm reduction
The measures are being justified locally on two grounds. These are reducing exposure to second-hand smoke and cutting the number of cigarette butts left in the sand.
There are also concerns over tobacco waste. The World Health Organisation says tobacco products are among the most littered items globally, with cigarette filters contributing to plastic pollution and discarded tobacco products leaching toxic chemicals into the environment.
But the inclusion of vapes in some beach restrictions adds a familiar complication for harm reduction policy. Cigarettes produce smoke, ash and discarded filters. Vapes do not produce tobacco smoke and do not leave cigarette butts on beaches, although disposable and poorly discarded vaping products create separate waste concerns.
The Veneto rules are local beach measures rather than national tobacco policy. They are designed around public space, beach cleanliness and comfort for other visitors, rather than smoking cessation. Even so, the expansion shows how smoking and vaping can be pulled into the same restrictions once public authorities frame nicotine use as a nuisance in shared spaces.
Public health bodies in the UK, including the NHS, continue to describe vaping as less harmful than smoking for adult smokers who switch completely. At the same time, governments and councils are under pressure to reduce youth vaping, public vaping and waste from disposable products. Italy’s beach rules sit at the intersection of those debates.
