Castel Volturno, the shame of the beaches: "Searched like criminals, even baby bottles confiscated."

A Castel Volturno, in the height of the bathing season, the sea smells not of saltiness but of arrogance.

Once again, the same beach resort is under fire: this time the complaint comes from a mother who says she was searched at the entrance and even saw her children's bottles stolen.

The exasperated woman turned to MP Francesco Emilio Borrelli (Avs), who had already reported a similar incident at the same plant last week.

"I was parking," she says, "while my friend was coming in with the bags. When I arrived, the staff was rummaging through the bags, taking away food and even baby bottles. They said I couldn't bring them into the beach.

They told me they'd give them back to me when I left. I'd paid 25 euros for two sun loungers and an umbrella: I'll never go back."

The precedent and the political denunciation

This isn't an isolated case: a few days earlier, another customer had been forced to throw away food for the same reason. This behavior, according to Borrelli, went beyond the pale: "This isn't about security or weapons, but about preventing people from bringing in food. This is an abuse that violates rights and dignity. I demand strict controls and exemplary sanctions from the Guardia di Finanza."

A problem of culture (and power)

The episode raises a broader issue: those who manage the beaches seem to forget that they are simply the custodians of a public asset. The sea is not private property, yet in some stretches of the Campania coast, they act as if it were a personal fiefdom, imposing arbitrary rules that trample on common sense and, in some cases, the law.

That a beach resort can decide to search customers' bags to confiscate food, even baby food, is a symptom of not only administrative but also ethical degradation.
And while the seaside resort association and the Municipality of Castel Volturno have distanced themselves from this establishment, the suspicion remains that these practices are not at all isolated.

Because this isn't just about a stolen baby bottle. It's about understanding to what extent citizens are willing to tolerate abuse disguised as internal regulations, and whether the Campania coastline will continue to be a land of conquest for the few, rather than a common good for all.