# Blue Flags 2026: 257 towns, region by region

> Italy holds 257 Blue Flag towns in 2026, covering 525 beaches and 87 marinas. Liguria leads with 35, Puglia and Calabria tie on 27, Molise has 2.

URL: https://myitalia.it/best/blue-flag-beaches
Last updated: 2026-09-02

Italy holds 257 Blue Flag municipalities in 2026, covering 525 beaches and 87 marinas, and Liguria leads the table with 35 towns ahead of Puglia and Calabria on 27 each.

## The criterion: 33 boxes ticked, not a beauty contest

The Blue Flag is awarded by the FEE against 33 criteria grouped in four areas: bathing water quality, environmental education and information, land and environment management, and services and safety. Nothing on that list rates how the beach looks.

That is the reason this ranking exists on a site that refuses most beach rankings. Every other "best beaches in Italy" list is an editor's taste; this one is a checklist somebody had to pass. It also means the award attaches to a municipality and its whole shoreline management, so a flagged town can contain a scruffy corner and an unflagged one a fine beach.

The 2026 round was the 40th edition of the program, announced in May 2026, and from this edition the certification runs for two years instead of one.

## The table: 257 towns across 18 regions

Liguria took 35 flags in 2026, more than any other region.

| Region | Blue Flag towns 2026 |
|---|---:|
| Liguria | 35 |
| Puglia | 27 |
| Calabria | 27 |
| Campania | 20 |
| Marche | 20 |
| Tuscany | 20 |
| Sardinia | 17 |
| Abruzzo | 16 |
| Sicily | 16 |
| Trentino-Alto Adige | 12 |
| Emilia-Romagna | 11 |
| Lazio | 10 |
| Veneto | 9 |
| Basilicata | 5 |
| Lombardy | 4 |
| Piedmont | 4 |
| Friuli-Venezia Giulia | 2 |
| Molise | 2 |

Read the table against a map and two things stand out. Liguria packs 35 flags into a single narrow strip of coast, while Sicily and Sardinia, two islands, take 16 and 17 between their whole shorelines. And Calabria, which almost never appears in an English-language beach list, ties for second place on 27.

## Twelve flags in a region with no sea

Trentino-Alto Adige holds 12 Blue Flags in 2026, Lombardy 4 and Piedmont 4, and none of those three regions touches the sea. Their flags fly on lake shores, which the program covers on the same terms as the coast.

This is the line the national table gets misread on. Sort regions by flag count for a sea holiday and you will be sent inland: Trentino-Alto Adige outranks Emilia-Romagna, Lazio and Veneto without owning a beach. Limone sul Garda, one of the 14 new entries in 2026, is a lake town.

## What moved in 2026: 14 in, 3 out

Fourteen municipalities entered the list in 2026 and three left it, for a net gain of 11 towns over 2025. The named newcomers are Rimini, Limone sul Garda, Monte Argentario, Lipari, Ispica and Teulada; the published list of new entries is partial, so those six are examples rather than the full set.

The three that were not reconfirmed are San Felice Circeo, Patù and Castrignano del Capo. Losing a flag does not mean the water failed a test: any of the 33 criteria, including services and management, can end a run.

Rimini is the name to notice among the newcomers, because it is the Adriatic resort most English-speaking visitors have already heard of, and it arrives in a region that holds 11 flags in total.

## What the flag does not tell you

A Blue Flag says nothing about crowding, parking, shade, seabed, currents or whether the beach is free or run by concessions. Those are the four things that actually decide a beach day in July, and none of them is in the 33 criteria.

Use it as a floor, not as a recommendation: it tells you the water was tested and the town has lifeguards and a plan. For the rules on what you can do in the water, the relevant document is the zoning of the [marine protected areas](/best/marine-protected-areas), which is a different system entirely.

## FAQ

### Which Italian region has the most Blue Flags in 2026?

Liguria, with 35 municipalities. Puglia and Calabria are tied second on 27 each, then Campania, Marche and Tuscany on 20 each. The national total is 257 municipalities holding 525 beaches and 87 marinas.

### What does a Blue Flag actually certify?

A municipality, against 33 criteria in four groups: bathing water quality, environmental education, land and environment management, and services and safety. It is not a judgment on the sand, the view or the crowd, and it is awarded to the town, not to one beach.

### Are Blue Flag beaches in Italy always on the sea?

No. Trentino-Alto Adige holds 12 Blue Flags in 2026, Lombardy 4 and Piedmont 4, and none of those regions touch the sea. Their flags are on lake shores, which is also why Limone sul Garda joined the list this year.

### How long does a Blue Flag last?

Two years, from the 2026 edition onward. The certification was previously renewed annually, and it is now aligned to the European standard and progressively integrated with the Green Key certification. The 2026 awards were announced in May 2026.

### Which towns lost their Blue Flag in 2026?

Three were not confirmed: San Felice Circeo in Lazio, Patù and Castrignano del Capo in Puglia. In the same edition 14 new municipalities came in, among them Rimini, Limone sul Garda, Monte Argentario, Lipari, Ispica and Teulada.

## Sources

| Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nel 2026 la Bandiera Blu della FEE e' stata assegnata in Italia a 257 comuni rivieraschi, per un totale di 525 spiagge e 87 approdi turistici; l'annuncio e' avvenuto a maggio 2026 nella 40a edizione del programma. | [FEE Italia - Bandiera Blu](https://www.bandierablu.org/common/blueflag.asp?anno=2026&tipo=bb); [Conferenza Stato-Citta' ed Autonomie Locali - Ministero dell'Interno](https://www.conferenzastatocitta.gov.it/home/notizie-e-comunicati/2026/bandiera-blu-2026-premiate-257-localita-balneari-italiane/) | high | 2027-06-30 |
| Distribuzione dei 257 comuni Bandiera Blu 2026 per regione, dall'elenco ufficiale FEE Italia. | [FEE Italia - Bandiera Blu](https://www.bandierablu.org/common/blueflag.asp?anno=2026&tipo=bb) | medium | 2027-06-30 |
| Nel 2026 la Liguria e' la regione italiana con piu' Bandiere Blu (35 comuni), seguita a pari merito da Puglia e Calabria con 27 ciascuna. | [Conferenza Stato-Citta' ed Autonomie Locali - Ministero dell'Interno](https://www.conferenzastatocitta.gov.it/home/notizie-e-comunicati/2026/bandiera-blu-2026-premiate-257-localita-balneari-italiane/); [FEE Italia - Bandiera Blu](https://www.bandierablu.org/common/blueflag.asp?anno=2026&tipo=bb) | high | 2027-06-30 |
| Nel 2026 sono entrati 14 nuovi comuni Bandiera Blu (tra cui Rimini, Limone sul Garda, Monte Argentario, Lipari, Ispica, Teulada) e 3 non sono stati riconfermati: San Felice Circeo, Patu' e Castrignano del Capo. | [Conferenza Stato-Citta' ed Autonomie Locali - Ministero dell'Interno](https://www.conferenzastatocitta.gov.it/home/notizie-e-comunicati/2026/bandiera-blu-2026-premiate-257-localita-balneari-italiane/) | medium | 2027-06-30 |
| La Bandiera Blu e' assegnata dalla FEE sulla base di 33 criteri raggruppati in quattro aree: qualita' delle acque, educazione ambientale, gestione del territorio, servizi e sicurezza (edizione 2026). | [Conferenza Stato-Citta' ed Autonomie Locali - Ministero dell'Interno](https://www.conferenzastatocitta.gov.it/home/notizie-e-comunicati/2026/bandiera-blu-2026-premiate-257-localita-balneari-italiane/) | medium | 2027-12-31 |

## Image

https://media.myitalia.it/media/theme.bandiera-blu.1600.jpg
Author: Panek. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aque_di_balneazione_piazza_malta.jpg

## Other languages

- it: https://myitalia.it/it/migliori/blue-flag-beaches.md
- es: https://myitalia.it/es/mejores/blue-flag-beaches.md
- fr: https://myitalia.it/fr/meilleurs/blue-flag-beaches.md
- de: https://myitalia.it/de/beste/blue-flag-beaches.md