Holy water: nuns fight town's plans to take their beach club

A group of Italian nuns is fighting back against local council plans to take their beach club away from them, according to a report in the Guardian. The sisters argue they should retain the concession in the Ligurian town of Spotorno because it funds their charitable activities.

The dispute is the latest flashpoint in the long-running national debate about the monopoly of private concessions on Italy's coastline. The Guardian frames the case as emblematic of a wider struggle over who controls the country's beaches, a question that has simmered for years and now reaches into the religious communities that depend on them.