Tourist properties in Tuscany, a prime destination for upmarket foreign holidaymakers, will have to limit the use of water in their swimming pools this summer because of fears of shortages as Italy faces another drought.
Acquedotto del Fiora (ADF), the aqueduct serving a third of Tuscany through a network more than 8,000 km (5,000 miles) long, will outlaw the use of regular drinking water to fill private swimming pools open to guests between June and the end of September.
Rural villas and farmhouses used for so-called "agriturismo" will instead need to replenish their pools with water from private wells or delivered separately by tankers, which will push up their costs.
ADF President Roberto Renai said measures adopted last year needed to be repeated because of the impact of "persistent climate change".
It was already forbidden to use regular water supplies to fill swimming pools in privately owned villas not open to paying guests.
Federico Taddei, president of an association representing farm owners in Tuscany's Siena province, said there was great concern about the potential impact of the ban.
"Every day we have to change 1 or 2% of the water. Over four months the change is equivalent to one and a half pools," he said. "This is the minimum necessary to maintain a pool with clean water that can be used by the tourists who choose our province."
Siena province, famous for its Chianti wine production, hosts 1,200 agritourism facilities and is the largest such centre in Tuscany. About one in five Siena tourist farms has a swimming pool for visitors.
(Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro, editing by Keith Weir and Mark Heinrich)
