On May 18, the national government, citing the dipping curve of infections, allowed Italian regions to reopen beach clubs. Different regions have reacted with varying degrees of caution. Tuscany allowed them to reopen on May 18, Campania on May 23, Lazio on May 29, and Sicily on June 6.

This week, the governor of the island of Sardinia, which had hardly any cases, said visitors could come without quarantining, as long as they carried a “health passport,” without detailing how such a document would work.

But the national government has also said that any sharp rise in new infections would prompt another lockdown, and the mayor of one small town in the southern region of Puglia closed the beaches this week after seeing an “invasion” of sunbathers, many, he said, “wearing their masks as necklaces.”