The discussion about burkinis flares up on the Italian beaches. After a scandal broke out among bathers at a lido in Trieste in recent days because Muslim women wore body-covering clothing when bathing in the water, groups of women from Trieste demonstrated on Sunday afternoon for the right to bathe freely.
The group of protesters gathered in the historic lido “Lanterna” in the center of Trieste. They entered the water fully clothed and holding hands. They recalled the current freedom of religion and referred to the constitutional right to bathe at will.
Some swimmers protested against the burkini demonstration
The initiative led to tensions. Some swimmers loudly protested against the clothed women in the water.
“You Don’t Swim Here”
A few days ago Muslim women wanted to go into the sea in the “Lanterna” lido with their clothes on. “You’re not bathing here,” several other bathers are reported to have yelled at them, citing hygiene concerns. However, other beachgoers immediately disagreed. Tempers only calmed down when the lido’s security service intervened. As a result, the solidarity initiative with the Muslim women was organized.
Mayors against burkinis on beaches
Trieste mayor Roberto Dipiazza, who belongs to the right-wing party Forza Italia, also commented on the dispute. “Can a Trieste woman swim in a bikini in Saudi Arabia? No. When you come to another country, you have to adapt not only to the laws but also to the traditions of the place,” said Dipiazza, according to the media.
Western Beach Ways
The topic of burkini has been blowing for a few weeks in the neighboring region of Friuli Venezia Giulia in Carinthia. The mayor of the Friulian port city of Monfalcone, Anna Maria Cisint, sent an open letter to the Muslim community a month ago. She had urged them to observe “Western beach customs” and not to swim in the sea with their clothes on. She is ready to ban the burkini, a two-piece swimwear for women that covers the entire body except the face, hands and feet.
Europe’s last gender-segregated bath facility
In summer, the entire coast up to Trieste is populated by many small seaside resorts. The lido “Lanterna” in the city center is especially popular with Muslim women, as men and women bathed there strictly separately. This is Europe’s last gender-segregated bathing facility, dating back to Theresian times. Up to 2500 guests per day are reported in the women’s section of the pool, twice as many as in the men’s pool. The women’s and children’s pool is separated from the men’s pool by a three-meter high wall and a rope runs into the water.
Any attempt to abolish gender segregation has so far met fierce resistance. This “bath apartheid” would be abolished several times, but the people of Trieste protested so loudly for its preservation that it still applies today. Inaugurated in 1903 when Trieste was still part of the Habsburg Empire, the bathhouse was restored in 2009 at a cost of €300,000. It has also been visited in the past by figures such as writer James Joyce. The “Lanterna” bath is also called “el Pedocin” in the city, which means “little flea” in the Trieste dialect. According to tradition, this beach was used by Emperor Franz Josef’s soldiers to wash and get rid of fleas.
Source: Krone
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