A pensioner from Desenzano on Lake Garda was fined for collecting rubbish from the beach. Now citizens from all over Italy are showing solidarity with him.
Desenzano - Enzo Fattori is known like a sore thumb in Desenzano on the southern shore of Lake Garda, and people in the neighboring communities are also happy about his hobby: because the Italian, who the locals call “Racmen”, collects rubbish from the banks of the “Benaco”, as the locals call Lake Garda. Empty drink cans, car hubcaps, discarded underpants and bikinis - there is nothing that Fattori hasn't fished out of Italy's largest lake.
“I've been doing this for thirty years because plastic bothers me the most, but there are also diapers, condoms, sanitary napkins, razor blades... The lake is full and if I didn't continue, we would have terrible conditions on the beach,” he said Fattori on Facebook. And he does it all for free: “I haven’t even asked for a pair of gloves,” he says.
He once discovered an entire demolished sailing boat that had been washed ashore by a storm and ensured that it was removed. The garbage collector is convinced: “Plastic is an environmentally harmful material, microplastics and nanoplastics are created, which we then drink, because I drink the community’s water and so do many others.”
“If I didn’t continue, we would have terrible conditions on the beach”
Enzo continues: “And when I find something useful, I take it to the Life Help Center.” There, the discarded items are sold for a good cause. “When I find umbrellas, I rearrange them and give them away.” But on Wednesday (April 17), the garbage collector got a ticket because he picked up a rusty fender on Feltrinelli beach and the municipal police found him there at 10:40 a.m. “ “caught red-handed.”
The background: On January 25, 2024, the municipality of Desenzano issued an ordinance prohibiting the collection of objects between the beaches and in the waters of Lake Garda. The reason was the discovery of ammunition during the renovation of the old port of Desenzano and the breakwater at the harbor entrance of the piers. 23 German 20-millimeter grenades from the Second World War, one British 40-millimeter grenade and an Italian 149-millimeter grenade from the First World War were unearthed.
During construction work on Lake Garda, large amounts of ammunition came to the surface
In addition, 610 rounds of 7.62 mm caliber rifle ammunition came to the surface. The projectiles were exploded in a controlled manner. At the end of both world wars, which also raged on Lake Garda, ammunition was “disposed of” in the lake. Until a few years ago, tens of thousands of shells from the First World War were stored on the island of Trimelone near Brenzone, and the current repeatedly flushes out ammunition buried in the gravel.
Because of the explosive findings, the municipality has decided to ban the removal and collection of material in the water and on the beaches to ensure the safety of citizens until the area is fully cleaned up. However, the decision penalizes volunteers like Enzo, who clean the lake and its beaches of trash on a weekly basis.
When word gets out about the traffic ticket issue, it shakes up the whole of Italy: “Everyone is being massacred.”
“A fine of 500 euros, I'm at a loss for words, it's paradoxical,” says Fattori in the video that his friend Rino Polloni published on the Facebook profile “Desenzano different 'Mind' pickers of Desenzano del Garda”. And Fattori continues: “This regulation, and I tell you with all my heart, change it, because you can’t do anything like that: you can no longer collect paper, glass, plastic.”
As word of the traffic ticket spread, a wave of solidarity emerged. Enzo's friends and many who are committed to the environment expressed their solidarity and offered to pay the fine. “Everyone is on Enzo Fattori’s side, unfortunately everyone who wants to do something in this city is put down and chased away,” writes one user.
Garda local council joins the discussion
“Every normal person doesn’t understand that this is how you treat people who want to do something and stand up for their territory,” one woman wrote on Facebook. Another person writes: "Absurd, let's raise money immediately." And another user adds: "Incredible, he should be rewarded."
Local councilor Stefano Terzi also weighs in on the discussion: “Complying with the regulations is important, but it is equally important that the regulations are appropriate, and this also applies to their implementation. Because in Desenzano the problem seems to be the one who clears away the rubbish and not the one who leaves it lying around”. The matter has become the talk of the day across Italy: the Italian newspaper
Corriere della Sera
reported on Enzo's case after the regional press reported on him.
Lake Garda recently made headlines because of many rock falls. The cycle path around the lake now runs through monumental tunnels, which is causing criticism. In recent months, several rockfalls have occurred along the planned route. At the beginning of March, the collapse of several blocks at the point where Ponastraße branches off, which the cycle path is also supposed to pass, was particularly spectacular.