意大利海滩小镇禁穿比基尼 最高罚款500欧元

It certainly won’t sit well with the local football team.

A seaside town in southern Italy has astonished locals and holiday-makers by instituting a ban on bikinis.

The coastal town of Vietri Sul Mare on the Amalfi Coast has barred anyone from showing too much flesh outside of the beach.

In the country that brought the world bunga bunga, the move has been met with disbelief.

Holiday makers walking around town in skimpy swimwear or bare-chested will now face a steep fine.

The restrictions against bikinis and bare chests was first brought in in 2010. However, the town’s mayor Franco Benincasa has now decided to enforce hefty fines in order to better protect the town's 'image'.

Offenders who are caught flaunting bare skin on streets, in public areas and, most of all on the marina of the upmarket seaside town, will face a fine of up to €500.

The ban is essential to maintain 'the area's image,' town spokeswoman Andrea Pellegrino told Italy's The Local.

Vietri Sul Mare's is not the first town in the area to implement the controversial move. In 2010, another coastal town in the region, Castellammare di Stabia, passed a similar ban, outlawing 'very skimpy clothes', alongside blasphemy and football kickabouts.

Local police commissioner Vincenzo Alfano said: 'The ban was created to protect the image and decorum of all the townspeople and all the tourists in the area.

'Very often we have witnessed indecent and shameful scenes of people entering public places such as bars and restaurants, shirtless or in costume.

‘In our opinion, it is an attitude that must be eliminated.'

Mayor Francesco Benincasa said: ‘By enforcing the law we wanted to warn those coming in Vietri that you need to observe a certain decorum when you are here.

‘As in many other seaside resorts of Italy, we in Vietri wanted to emphasize how respect and good behaviour go hand in hand with tourism. '

Violations will be strictly monitored by police and punished with a fine ranging from Euro 25 to 500.’