Blue Flag Goes Biennial From 2026: What It Means for Italy's Beaches

Starting this year, the Blue Flag is changing shape: the award handed out every May to Italy's best-run coastal towns will no longer be renewed annually, but every two years. The change, confirmed by Italy's Ministry of Tourism at the award ceremony on 14 May 2026, directly affects the 257 Italian municipalities honoured this year and resets the calendar by which the flag will be renewed or withdrawn in future cycles. Here's what the ministry's announcement says, and what it actually changes for beachgoers.

The big change: a two-year award, not an annual one

The headline change for the 2026 edition is a rule change: as the Ministry of Tourism put it, "starting this year, the Blue Flag will be awarded every two years rather than annually." The stated reason is to bring Italy in line with the standard already used by other FEE (Foundation for Environmental Education) programmes across Europe — the international body that runs the Blue Flag scheme in more than 50 countries. In practice, towns awarded the flag in 2026 will keep it through 2027 as well, without having to go through the full application process again the following year — a change that trims the administrative workload for coastal municipalities.

The 2026 numbers

257 Italian coastal municipalities earned the Blue Flag in 2026, 11 more than in 2025. Between them, they account for 525 beaches and 87 marinas. Turnover on the previous year came to 14 new entries and 3 exits. Globally, Italy's flags make up roughly 11.5% of the 4,378 Blue Flag beaches worldwide, keeping the country among the most-awarded in the international programme.

Which regions lead the table

Liguria again tops the regional rankings with 35 Blue Flag towns, followed jointly by Puglia and Calabria, each with 27. On the marina side, Friuli Venezia Giulia leads with 15 certified marinas — a figure the ministry points to as evidence of growing attention to recreational boating alongside traditional bathing tourism.

The criteria behind the flag

Blue Flag status is decided against 33 criteria spread across four broad areas: bathing water quality, environmental education, sustainable land management, and services and safety. According to Claudio Mazza, president of FEE Italy, the share of municipalities scoring at the top level across all four areas has climbed to 95% — a figure the ministry links to steadily rising standards for towns applying to the programme.

What it means for local authorities and holidaymakers

For municipalities, the move to two-year validity means fewer formal reapplication rounds, even though the same 33 evaluation criteria — covering water quality, the environment, land management and services — still have to be met. For holidaymakers choosing where to go, the flag remains the quickest way to spot a well-run beach in Italy, only now the award covers two consecutive bathing seasons instead of one. Tourism Minister Gianmarco Mazzi, who presented the flags on behalf of Prime Minister Meloni, used the ceremony to highlight the sector's economic weight: according to the ministry, coastal tourism generates "more than €22 billion" in value and accounts for 40% of all overnight stays in Italy.