Where to find even more of Italy's best beaches in 2021

A total of 416 beaches across Italy have been awarded the internationally recognised and coveted bandiera blu (Blue Flag) status for 2021. That's up an extra nine beaches from 407 last year and 234 a decade ago.

Liguria claims the top spot with 32 beaches again, followed by Campania, moving up one place from last year with 19 beaches. In joint third place are Tuscany and Puglia with 17 Blue Flag beaches each.

15 new comuni (municipalities) have been added to the list and nine got cut from last year.

The new additions include the following:

Abruzzo:

Piazza Adriatico

Villa Rosa, Martinsicuro

Riviera Nord, Sud

Calabria:

Diamante Nord (Cirella, Scogliera Cirella)

Chiatta in Ferro - Abatemarco

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The sun sets over Camaiore in Tuscany, which has claimed Blue Flag status for 2021. Photo: Piero Zanetti / Flickr

Campania:

Cala Finocchiara, San Domenico

Lazio:

Levante (Sant’Anastasia - Capratica), Ponente (Torre Canneto – Rio Claro)

Ponente

Marche:

Lungomare Paolo Borsellino

Puglia:

Salata, Salsello

Castello Santo Stefano, Capitolo, Lido Porto Rosso

Porto Selvaggio, Sant’Isidoro, Santa Caterina, Santa Maria al Bagno, Torre Squillace

Sardinia:

Vignola Mare

Maganuco, Marina di Modica

Roccalumera

Beaches only get this seal of approval for meeting excellent water quality and environmental standards, assigned by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE)

And it's getting tougher to meet those standards. The criteria for achieving the Blue Flag status has increased to 33 areas of environmental, safety and educational specifications, including beach waste management, recycling, the presence of lifeguards and the cleanliness of changing facilities.

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Agropoli in Campania boasts the Blue Flag beach status. Photo: Carlo Mantegna / Flickr

In monitoring the state of coastlines across the world, the Danish-based environmental organisation provides a guide for those choosing where to spend a day at the beach.

New municipalities that have been added to the list this year include Aglientu in Sardinia, Modica in Sicily and Fondi in Lazio.

Monopoli's beaches in Puglia have been awarded with the Blue Flag seal of approval for this year. Photo: Chris Walts / Flickr

To find your nearest blue flag beach, you can search the interactive map here.

The annual awards come ahead of the country's summer season, with Italy planning on opening up tourism to some countries from this month.