The horizon is breathtaking; the sea an astonishing blue. Dozens of bathers crowd the arc of Cala Tonnarella dell'Uzzo, a pocket-sized beach carved out of a sublime fragment of the Sicilian coastline. There's not a parasol in sight; this is a protected area. The authorities have banned them, leaving the sun to regulate the crowds – 250,000 visitors a year, almost half of them in July and August. Among them, how many know who to thank for the existence of this paradise, which, in 2023, ranked as the 10^th most beautiful beach on the continent by the site European Best Destinations?

The Zingaro reserve was established as a result of a battle, won in 1981 against influential forces when Sicily was overrun, under Mafia influence, by concrete development. The unexpected victory prevented the construction of a road and allowed the preservation of seven kilometers of coastline and 1,600 hectares of scrubland.

"I have no idea how they pulled it off, but I'm glad they did!" said 33-year-old Marta Alessi. The anesthetist followed the informal ritual that governs the place: Arrive early in the morning, leave your car at the entrance, pay the mandatory €5 entrance fee, race down the access path to one of the seven coves, and pray to the Madonna that there will be a patch of pebbles left to lay your towel. Behind the beaches, the landscape is covered with shrubs and cacti, the kingdom of a rare bird of prey, Bonelli's eagle. Zingaro, Italian for "gypsy," is also home to the dwarf palm: an endemic species capable of withstanding summer fires.

The causes of these summer fires, exacerbated by global warming, are shrouded in rumors. Even the reserve's director, Pietro Miceli, is not very forthcoming on the subject, or on any other subject for that matter. "I can't explain the cause of the fires," he said. When asked about Zingaro's budget, mainly used to pay the salaries of its 50 or so employees, he replied: "About €1 million a year, but it varies." We left his office, decorated with a portrait of the republic's president – local boy Sergio Mattarella – with a sense of incompleteness.

The road that came to an abrupt end

It's an island specialty: l'incompiuto siciliano ("the unfinished Sicilian"), as locals refer to the difficulty in completing things – from conversations to constructions. One such example is the road, whose progress came to an abrupt end on May 18, 1980, at the edge of the Zingaro, with a march of 3,000 protestors. Their efforts prevented the road from linking the neighboring towns of Castellammare del Golfo to the south and San Vito Lo Capo to the north, home to 15,000 and 5,000 residents respectively.

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