San Vero Milis, a small Italian agricultural village on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, is known for basket-weaving and its production of Vernaccia wine. With a regular population of 2,500 people, which can increase to 30,000 in the summer, the town boasts the 17th century parish church of St. Sophia, with its façade featuring three portals that combine Gothic and Baroque elements. St. Sophia has a majestic bell tower with an onion dome and a wooden sculpture of St. Sebastian.
Today, the village is receiving a different kind of publicity, since its mayor, Luigi Tedeschi, announced that he will be welcoming nude weddings on the coastal strip known as Is Benas. Two years ago, he designated a section of that beach as an official nudist spot, telling reporters, “I’m 65 and remember the times when nudity on the beach was normal. Is Benas was already being used by naturists — all we’ve done is regulate it.”
This year, he took it a step further after a German couple asked for permission to marry on the nude beach. Tedeschi said he did not hesitate to grant permission, emphasizing that naturist weddings are an expression of freedom and acceptance.
One of Sardinia’s main features is its coastline, extending for nearly 2,000 kilometers, with sandy beaches and a mountainous interior crossed with hiking trails. Prior to the designation of Is Benas as a nude beach, Sardinia already had two other sanctioned nude beaches — Piscinas in Arbus and Porto Ferro in Sassari — which have been attracting members of Europe’s active naturist population, estimated at 20 million people, with around 500,000 in Italy.
Tedeschi says there have been many requests for beach weddings. “There are beaches in Sardinia where marriage is also officially permitted, and there are those who even choose to say ‘yes’ underwater,” he commented. He sees nude beach weddings as an “important opportunity for the development of active and eco-sustainable tourism”.
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