Democracy washed over Italian beaches at the weekend when the rich and famous were ordered to open their secluded playgrounds to the rest of humanity.

Italy's highest court ruled that royals, tycoons, celebrities and British prime ministers can no longer seal off their favourite bits of sand.

A 10-year legal battle to prise open a Tuscan beach reserved for residents of luxury villas ended in a victory which set a precedent for the rest of the country.

The Sbarcatello complex in Argentario was told it must allow the public to slap on suncream alongside its usual guests - the Queen of the Netherlands, Borghese princes and film directors.

"No private property, for any motive, can deny access to the sea if that is the only way to reach it," the court of cassation said.

Italy's main environmental group, Legambiente, hailed the ruling as a landmark which would end the privatisation of the seaside.

Tony Blair's August 1999 holiday at another Tuscan resort, San Rossore, caused controversy when the local authorities closed off three miles of beach to ensure privacy and security.

Downing Street mollified protesters by getting the ban lifted.

Legambiente hopes the law will result in the private guards, fences, railings and walls which seal off some of Italy's most beautiful sands disappearing by summer. Top of its list are resorts at Capri and Portofino, where Europe's elite gather from May to September.

Commentators were jubilant that the moneyed clients of Sbarcatello would soon have to share their idyll. "They were all united, for years, in holding on to their little Eden far from outsiders. But now they are defeated," one said.

The tranquillity of private resorts is a world away from the bedlam of public beaches in peak season. Italians all tend to take their holidays in August, when more than 20m people scramble to the coast.

Last summer some towns drafted special beach police to maintain order as tempers frayed and fights broke out.