Coronavirus: Italian beach nudists fined as police crack down

Six people who dared to go bare on the shores of an Italian lake have been given big fines for outraging public decency.

The naturists were spotted by police patrolling the beaches of Abbadia Lariana in an attempt to enforce social distancing measures.

The six, all men aged 43 to 68, were each given fines of €3,333 (£3,000; $3,750).

Local police combed beaches in Lake Como by foot and with patrol boats.

Italian media said the men were spotted from a carabinieri police boat on Sunday.

Authorities in the northern region of Lombardy have been struggling to stop people converging on local beaches in the summer weather.

Some 70 people were spotted on the beaches, mainly visitors from South American and Eastern Europe as well as neighbouring provinces.

Lombardy has been hit harder by Covid-19 than any other Italian region. Although the lockdown is gradually being lifted it is compulsory to wear a mask, even outdoors.

The Corriere website noted that it was not just masks that the six nudists had failed to wear.