The irony of summer! 350 stolen sunbeds end up in Rodon, Italians appeal to Rama

By Elisabetta Grassi, IL RESTO DEL CARLINO

350 sun loungers disappeared overnight in June two years ago from the 'Onde Chiare' club in Reggio Emilia, Italy. A year later, the same ones "magically" reappeared, with the 'Onde Chiare' logo still clearly visible, on a beach at Cape Rodonit, a rocky promontory in the Adriatic Sea, north of Durrës, Albania.

A tourist on vacation raised the alarm

It was a woman from Reggio Emilia, who was there on vacation, who noticed it. She sent the pool managers an email with the photos attached to inform them of this unusual discovery, having read the news about the theft in the local press at the time.

Pool managers filed a lawsuit to reclaim the loungers

Alberto Costoli and Enrico Cavazzoni, the directors of this structure, which for years has been synonymous with well-being and physical activity in their province, wasted no time. They commissioned lawyer Gianluca Dallari to initiate legal proceedings to return the equipment, worth over 45,000 euros.

Costoli explains: "We even thought about going there ourselves to pick them up, but then we decided to follow the legal route. Our lawyer also found a lawyer in Albania, who initiated the court case. In theory, our sun loungers should have been seized and placed under custody by the Albanian authorities. Instead, another client of ours, who happened to be in Durrës these days, sent us a new video, which we then published on our Instagram profile, where it is clearly seen that they are still on the beach and being used by the customers of that beach in Albania. We are very angry."

"It's not a good calling card for tourists and the national reputation"

For this reason, they decided to make the matter public.

"We have tagged local media, we have sent an e-mail to the editorial office of Le Iene, the Italia Uno show, known for its investigations. I also wanted to tag Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania, because he often talks about the development of Albanian tourism. So, stealing sun loungers in Italy is not at all a good calling card for tourists and for the national reputation of their country. We have been working with various Albanian suppliers for years and we have never had any problems. We hope that the Albanian Prime Minister will be interested in our case, because now we no longer know which path to follow."

 

The post on social media caused a stir.

"Hello everyone, if anyone is going on vacation to Cape Rodon... let them say goodbye to our sun loungers! It sounds like a joke, but unfortunately it's all true."

Thus begins the post of the Onde Chiare club from Reggio Emilia, which became very popular.

"In June 2024, around 300 sun loungers, worth over 45,000 euros, were stolen from our Onde Chiare club in Reggio Emilia," the owners write.

"A year later, an acquaintance of ours, on vacation in Albania, sends us some photos and asks: 'Are these your sun loungers?' And from there, an almost surreal story begins."

"Reports, lawyers in Italy and Albania, sworn translations, verifications, time and money spent to bring home what was stolen from us."

"Today this video, filmed just a few days ago, shows that those sun loungers are still on the same beach."

"We simply want to understand how it is possible that a theft of 45,000 euros, where the stolen items have been identified and documented for more than a year, has still not been solved."

"Maybe this video will reach the right person. If you know someone who can help us, a journalist, a TV show or you just think this story deserves to be told... please share it."

Meanwhile, the post on social media has been a huge success, garnering dozens of shares and hundreds of likes.

Costoli concludes: "Our hope is that a little noise and media pressure will serve to move things along. Just think of the damage and inconvenience this theft caused us, which happened two years ago, right at the beginning of the summer season."