Rimini, August 20, 2026 – At Passetto, the toxic algae is present (and there are signs indicating it), but looking at the beach you wouldn’t say so: towels everywhere, people in the water at all hours, and a season that those who experience it from the inside describe as one of the best ever. The paradox of the Ancona beach is all here: while the presence of Ostreopsis ovata is monitored every summer and for now bathing and staying close to the shoreline are discouraged, bathers have not changed their habits one bit. On the contrary: for the beachgoers this is simply a great season.
The beach’s assessment
The assessment is made by Claudio Cerusico, one of the beach’s creators and a historic cave dweller. “There are people, I can’t complain – he says –. Passetto has become a nice reality, so I can only be happy”. No beating around the bush, no superstition: “I face the assessment, even this year, with a smile. I don’t complain when things go wrong, let alone when they go well”.
The algae?
The sea, he explains, regulates itself: “If a good storm comes, everything disappears”. And between storms, algae, and thunderstorms, the season has gone on without setbacks: “For me it’s a good season, that’s what I can say. I don’t complain”. The tone is that of someone who has seen it all.
Because the Passetto beach, before becoming a nice reality, was a battle: “I was one of the creators, it wasn’t easy at first to make people understand how important it was. The beach is there, it’s frequented: what do you want me to say?”. Then he shares a confidence that says it all: “At first they said it wasn’t a thing. Look how beautiful it is now“. About the Municipality, and what the administration could or should do for the area, the answer is a lesson in beach diplomacy: “I choose not to answer”. Laughter follows, and the feeling that behind the joke there is a long list of things to say.
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Room for growth?
“Everything can be improved, everything. But I am satisfied. The important thing is that the people who come to Passetto are satisfied: that’s what matters. And this year there have been many”. The house philosophy, after all, is carved in the white stone of the caves: “We are cave dwellers, we are not afraid of anything. When the sea takes away, we rebuild“. And the bathers agree with him. On the square and down the stairs the comings and goings are continuous, and in the water the algae seem like a detail for paranoids.
“Here we are great, always in the water, even with the algae”, cuts short Franco Stazio, a historic beachgoer, a true Ancona native, who has spent every summer he remembers at Passetto. Around him the usual array: kids diving, regulars lying on the rocks, families camped in the shade with coolers, cave dwellers at the threshold of their caves.
“There are no problems, there is work to do”
The season of controversies seems light years away: it remains an urban beach like no other, ten minutes on foot from the center, where the people of Passetto have made peace with everything – even with the unwanted guest that occasionally surfaces among the rocks. The ending is already written, and it is signed by Cerusico’s wife, who calls him back to order from the venue while the interview drags on: there is work to do, and when she says it, there is no discussion. “They tell me enough, we have to close – she smiles –. And when the wife says to close, we close: there are no problems, there is work to do“. As if to say: the season is so good that there is not even time to tell about it.
