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A record number of people have visited the Italian beach that sparked fury over its gender-segregation rule.

In June, a fight broke out at Alla Lanterna beach - better known as Pedocin - in Trieste after a woman tried to sunbathe on the male side.

The woman, who was with her partner, was confronted by another beachgoer at Europe's only gender-segregated beach.

Since that fight, which sparked an international furore over whether the woman was in the right to hold her ground, the beach has seen a significant boost in visitor numbers.

Local media reported that this July alone, authorities sold 53,610 tickets, compared to 34,885 in 2025 and 40,160 in 2024.

In the last three months, the beach has seen around 100,000 people visit, resulting in €120,000 in revenue from tickets alone.

Il Piccolo reported that most of the people who attend the beach are women.

But not all are happy about the separation. The June fight saw an older woman ask the younger woman to go.

But she branded the older woman as 'sexist' and 'backward'. She added Trieste was 'medieval' for its waterside segregation and added: 'If you have these customs, you're not Italian.'

Those wishing to fraternise with the opposite gender have to wade out into the sea and meet at the buoys

A wall separates men from women and children under 12 at Pedocin beach in Trieste, northern Italy

A fight broke out in June after a woman, reportedly from Milan, went to the male side of the beach with her partner and was confronted

The defiant woman and her partner had reportedly come from Milan.

'You're living in the Middle Ages,' she reportedly said.

'You're a bunch of sexist oafs... this is a form of discrimination. Shame on you.'

The woman who confronted her had come to the men's side of the beach, which is divided by a wall, to help her husband take their disabled son to the toilet.

After her angry outburst, the young woman approached the older mother 'threateningly' and raised her hand, according to Il Piccolo.

But the men on the beach were able to restore calm, though a female beach worker was shoved.

Following the altercation the tourist couple left the beach but demanded their entrance fee, worth €2.40, be refunded.

A wall divides the beach at Pedocin, where women and children up to the age of 12 are separated from the area reserved for men.

To meet with the opposite gender, beachgoers have to swim out to the buoys in the sea in a ritual that has lasted for more than a century.

Women reportedly value the separation because it makes topless bathing possible away from prying eyes.

'For the rest, just go to the buoys,' female beachgoers told La Repubblica.

Pedocin translates as louse or nit and it is thought the area was where travellers deloused horses, though mussels are called 'pedoci' in the Trieste dialect, with mussel farms nearby.

The beach has appeared in literature and film, with a 2016 documentary following the bay's regulars over the course of a year.

With more pebbles than sand, Pedocin is close to the city centre and attracts an older crowd who return often.

Cards are a popular pastime among the beachgoers and the entrance fee was just €1 until around the time of the pandemic.