The stretches of the Italian coasts unsuited for bathing because of pollution diminished by a total of 13.1 km this year, according to the latest health ministry report.
The regions which showed the greatest improvements were Campania and Sicily, while the situation worsened in central Lazio, especially in the province of Rome, the report said. Italy's total coastline was measured in the report at 7,375,3 km, of which 420.4 km was said to be too polluted for swimming.
The report explained that a total of 242.8 km of coastline was "permanently polluted" while the rest was "temporarily polluted".
Another 878.3 km of the Italian coastline was off limits to bathers because they were located in marine preservation parks or were reserved for military use. There was also 1,044.9 km which could not be measured for pollution because they were inaccessible.
The health ministry will soon issue a more detailed report on the health of the Italian coastline.
