Among the beach clubs featured in the 2026 edition of our Guide, there is one that has never opened and will not open by the end of the year. It is Chiosco Blu – B Tour in Bibione, in Veneto. Why? Everything was ready for the opening, but then something “very Italian” happened that not only caused the dismantling of the structure already set up on the beach, but left a glaring “void” with no replacement.

Dino Di Lonardo, already winner of the Cà Maiol Award 2024 as best beach club restaurant in Veneto (and among the top in Italy), had obtained a 25-year concession for B Tour and Chiosco Blu. He was ready to make all possible and necessary investments, had started labor and supply contracts for the current year, while waiting for the appeal filed (and won) at the TAR by a petitioning company to be resolved. The pronouncement from the Council of State came on the eve of the opening and confirmed the first sentence. At that point, after sadly dismantling the structure, the new concession should have taken over. Which did not happen because, as reported last Saturday by the newspaper Il Gazzettino: “The paperwork has stalled. From the Municipality of San Michele in Tagliamento – of which Bibione is a hamlet – the formal release of the permit has not yet arrived, nor any temporary act that would allow the beach management to resume”. 41 people lost their jobs and what remained of Chiosco Blu became a shelter for homeless people.

By now it is quite difficult to imagine, having already reached the end of July, that anything can be resolved for the current season. And it is likely that Dino Di Lonardo with his staff is looking for a less risky alternative than managing a concessioned space. A sad, disheartening story that deserved a different ending. An ending like the one told in the third edition of the Guide, which we report here with a touch of nostalgia.

“Thank goodness Chiosco Blu exists”, write their customers on social media. All true, whoever comes to the beach at Bi Tour and sets foot for the first time in Dino Di Lonardo’s bar and restaurant ends up not leaving. And let’s see if the one about to open will be, as its manager hopes, the first “non-stop” season, open year-round. Certainly, the summer 2025 program has been intense with the organization of events and concerts on the beach, collaborating with various wine companies, to strengthen the already appealing offering of this structure accessible in price (a spot starts from 20 euros) and welcoming in the spaces dedicated to dining and aperitivo in the beach bar positioned between the dining area and the beach, which in Bibione is incredibly large. The continuity of management, from Bi Tour, is assured by a twenty-year concession obtained in the summer of 2024, so there is plenty of time to amortize the investments that will be made in the immediate future. In the kitchen the menu changes throughout the year and some dishes, like the fusillone with garlic, oil and chili pepper with creamed borlotti beans and clams, harks back to Dino’s origins, born in Molise and happily adopted as Veneto. The raw fish is excellent and very fresh, the wine selection is well-stocked, and the service is quick, managing to combine speed and courtesy even on the busiest days. We look forward to seeing, already this summer, the expected changes.