Coastguard officers and local police in Torre del Greco (a coastal town near Naples, southern Italy) conducted a pre-dawn raid on a popular free-access beach, confiscating 40 umbrellas, loungers and deck chairs left overnight to reserve prime spots. The practice, dubbed furbetti dell'ombrellone — or 'umbrella cheaters' — is expressly prohibited under regulations governing public maritime areas, with offenders facing fines of up to €500. Similar operations have been carried out this summer on beaches in Puglia, Liguria and Sardinia, as Italian authorities push back against the growing trend of overnight spot-reserving on the country's increasingly contested free beaches.