If Carlo Zanella, president of the Alto Adige Alpine Club, had his way, travel influencers would be banned from the Dolomites.
He blames them for the latest Italian social media trend, which has lured hundreds of thousands of tourists to the mountain range in northern Italy, with many traipsing across private land to get that perfect shot.
In response to the influx, frustrated local farmers have set up turnstiles, where tourists must pay 5 euros (nearly $6) to access several \u201cInstagrammable\u201d spots, including the Seceda and Drei Zinnen (Three Peaks) mountain ranges.
Photos showing lines of up to 4,000 people a day, have been popping up on social media in recent weeks. But rather than deter people from coming, the images have acted as a magnet.
\u201cThe media\u2019s been talking about the turnstiles, everyone\u2019s been talking about it,\u201d says Zanella. \u201cAnd people go where everyone else goes. We\u2019re sheep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italian law mandates free access to natural parks, such as the Alps and Dolomites, but the landowners who set up the turnstiles say they have yet to receive any official pushback from authorities.
Georg Rabanser, a former Italian national team snowboarder who owns land in a meadow on Seceda, told the Ladin-language magazine La Usc he and others started charging tourists to cross their land to make a point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So many people come through here every day, everyone goes through our properties and leaves trash,\u201d he says. \u201cOurs was a cry for help. We expected a call from the provincial authorities. But nothing. We only read statements in the newspapers. Gossip; nothing concrete. We haven\u2019t even received warning letters. So we\u2019re moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018This isn\u2019t what the mountains should be\u2019
Zanella, who says he avoids his once beloved alpine hiking trails during the summer months, supports the landowners charging admission to cross their property. He thinks the government should pay for the upkeep of the entrance system, likening the overtourism to Venice, where visitors have to pay a 10-euro entrance fee (around $12) on busy weekends.
\u201cI would increase the price from 5 to 100 euros,\u201d he tells CNN. \u201cAnd close the accounts of travel influencers.
Beyond the public nuisance of overcrowding, he fears the naivete of social media tourists puts them at risk.
\u201cOnce upon a time, those who came up to the mountains were prepared, dressed for the mountains, and came for hiking. Especially the Germans, who had maps and knew where to go. The Italians, on the other hand, set off, go, and take a cable car,\u201d he says in a statement shared with CNN. \u201cNow I\u2019ve seen people go up to Seceda with sun umbrellas and flip-flops and get stuck because the cable car closed and they hadn\u2019t checked the lift schedules (\u2026) This isn\u2019t what the mountains should be,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The local tourism body has petitioned authorities to close the turnstiles, insisting the issue is being overblown. The Santa Cristina Tourist Board, which oversees part of the area where the turnstiles have popped up, says they have hired four park rangers to ensure that tourists stay on the trails, don\u2019t cross the meadows and don\u2019t fly drones.
\u201cThings have improved significantly,\u201d Lukas Demetz, president of the Santa Cristina Tourist Board, said in a statement shared with CNN. \u201cAnd even the litter problem isn\u2019t as serious as people say. It\u2019s significantly reduced.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New laws to curb bad behavior
The mountain residents aren\u2019t the only Italians clamping down on badly behaved visitors. Across the country, new ordinances have been a hallmark of the 2025 summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wearing just a swimsuit or going bare-chested in some Italian towns will attract more than a few looks. Semi-nudity could also land you a 500-euro fine \u2014 in the name of decorum. The Tuscan island of Elba and the Ligurian city of Diano Marina have both introduced summer ordinances that prohibit shirtless and swimsuit-only strutting \u2014 for both men and women \u2014 anywhere but the beach.
And if your attire is deemed vulgar or \u201cindecent\u201d in the eyes of any beholder, authorities can levy smaller fines starting at 25 euros.
In Livorno, walking barefoot is prohibited. On Sardinian beaches, you\u2019ll get in trouble for digging holes for umbrellas, smoking, or lying on the sand without a mat. At the ever popular La Pelosa beach area, only 1,500 bathers are allowed at a time to prohibit overcrowding.
In San Felice Circeo, a party town south of Rome where having an aperitivo on the beach is a way of life, take-away alcohol is banned both in town and on the beach. Loud music can only be blared during certain hours across much of the country, and in the southern region of Puglia, boaters risk a fine if they play music within 500 meters of the coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If Carlo Zanella, president of the Alto Adige Alpine Club, had his way, travel influencers would be banned from the Dolomites. He blames them for the latest Italian social media trend, which has lured hundreds of thousands of tourists to the mountain range in northern Italy, with many traipsing across private land to get that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/images-37.jpeg?fit=300%2C168","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15676,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15675\/revisions\/15676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}