Sicilian resort Agrigento no longer has water for guests

In the Sicilian city of Agrigento and the nearby coast, small hotels and guesthouses have such a severe water shortage that they are turning tourists away: they don’t have enough water for their guests to have a toilet or shower after a day. In summer heat offer.

In February, Sicily declared a state of emergency and implemented water restrictions due to the ongoing drought. According to the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, the island received less than a quarter of its usual rainfall last winter.

According to CNN, more than a million people in 93 communities have water supplies. Some have reduced water use by up to 45 percent. As planned, pipelines will be empty as planned and supply will be completely stopped at night in most places. This has a major impact on tourism and agriculture, two important sectors for Sicily’s economy.

The southern city of Agrigento was also affected. It is known, among other things, for its old site-like aqueduct system, which is still in operation today. But leaking, outdated infrastructure has exacerbated the deficit.

On Tripadvisor and other travel forums, tourists ask whether Sicily’s affected areas are worth visiting. Hotels warn their guests of potential shortages and help visitors rebook elsewhere on the island where restrictions are less severe or not in place.

“People keep asking us if they want to come. But we don’t know what to tell them,” Giovanni Lopez, owner of the bed and breakfast guesthouse, told CNN. Hotels are obliged to create a certain amount of water reserves according to their capacity, Nicola Farrugio, president of the Sicilian Hotel Association, explains to the US news website.

But water has to be bought from underground. Small establishments, especially family-run hotels and bed and breakfasts, have no way of storing enough water to meet demand. Vulnerability: They cannot guarantee adequate supply of water to their guests.

The water emergency is expected to last at least until the end of the year. The Sicilian government has asked Rome for subsidies to import water, but there is still no concrete plan to help the island. Locals are now worried about their island’s summer. Particularly bitter for Agrigento: in March last year the city was named the Italian Capital of Culture 2025. Water scarcity may now dampen the interest of tourists.