Italy's most beautiful beach, in southern Sardinia, is being bought by an environmentalist association. It's the first time this has happened, and we hope it won't be the last (photo).

CHIA DUNES ENVIRONMENTALISTS, SARDINIA

Domus de Maria It is a small municipality in the south of Sardinia, little more than a village, like those that the community of Don't waste, a treasure chest with just 1.669 inhabitants. Inside there are former abandoned mines (once one of the main industrial activities of the island, then declined), the splendor of Monte Santo and the traces of an ancient civilization, that of the Phoenicians.

But the real jewel in the territory of Domus de Maria is the bay of Chia, a fragile place as unique in the world, with its dunes, its sand White, its beach, its pristine scenery. We're talking about an area called Su Giudeu, covering 400 hectares, 300 meters of sandy shoreline, and defined by Legambiente's authoritative stamp as the most beautiful beach in Italy.

ALSO READ: Sand thieves: fines aren't enough to stop them. They need to be reported, even through Facebook groups (photo).

PURCHASE CHIA DUNES

What happens at this crossroads of Nature and Beauty, of something that everyone should we defend ourselves tooth and nail? Some foreign investors, especially the Arabs who are spreading in the Sardinian sector luxury, buying spaces, hotels and entire areas for millions of euros, has set its sights on Chia BayWhich, by the way, is highly protected by law, and therefore absolutely cannot be transformed or even altered. But perhaps the luxury investor could reserve it exclusively for his hotel guests, fencing it off.

Faced with this risk, and it's not the only one, an environmentalist association, Gruppo di intervento legale (Legal Intervention Group), founded in Cagliari, Sardinia, but now active throughout Italy, has stepped forward. As luck would have it, the owner of the beach and dunes of Chia Bay, heir to an old local family, wasn't lured by the scent of money; he turned down some very tempting offers and decided to sell his treasure to the Legal Intervention Group for a figure close to 100 thousand euros. Money that Sardinian environmentalists collect through the through crowdfunding.

TO KNOW MORE: Not just environmentalism, the German Greens triumphed in Bavaria and Hesse by talking about Europe, integration and rights

SARDINIA CHIA DUNES

It tells Stefano Deliperi, founder and president of the Legal Intervention Group: "We were brave, but also very lucky. The owner told us he 'prefers to earn less but have a clear conscience.' And so we hit the ground running..." Meanwhile, the mayor of Domus de Maria, Concetta Spada, a doctor who has held the position for several years leading a civic list, opposed the move, saying that the Chia Bay area is state-owned, already heavily restricted, and therefore no one can touch anything. Unfortunately, nearby, just a short distance from the beach and dunes, they wanted to build a hotel and a large tourist complex, and the development, which was later blocked, had already been approved in 1976.

What matters most in this story, in any case, is just one fact: for the first time an environmentalist association buys a beach, with cash, for protect it from any risk-speculation, and to leave it available to everyone, and not to a club of lucky visitors.

ALSO READ: The manifesto of those who want to save Nature: everything in this book, on which our community was born

You understand well that, with a similar precedent, it can really change the history of environmentalism in Italy and very important spaces are opened for direct participation actions of citizens who fight to defend their (and our) heritage of natural and artistic beautyIn short, while Italy doesn't yet have a Green Party comparable to the one in Germany, for example, fortunately we have many men, and especially women, who aren't sitting idly by in the face of environmental devastation. And sooner or later someone will try to organize them, with a new, large national network capable of participating in the political battle as in Germany.

The photos are taken from the Facebook page CHIA The Last Paradise.

CITIZENS WHO SAVE MONUMENTS AND PLACES OF BEAUTY

Florence, Venice, Rome: these aren't free beaches. They're art cities that tourists can't ruin.

Pompeii's Blackmail: The Superintendent Opens Excavations and Two Unions Sue Him

The woman who saves endangered fruits. Isabella works in a garden of 440 plants. Precious (photo)

Let's all adopt a monument, a challenge to take up against the endless earthquake