{"id":429874,"date":"2026-02-17T05:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T05:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/429874\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T05:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T05:20:10","slug":"italys-famous-lovers-arch-collapses-into-the-sea-on-valentines-day-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/429874\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy\u2019s famous Lovers\u2019 Arch collapses into the sea on Valentine\u2019s Day | Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The famous arch of the sea stacks at Sant\u2019Andrea in Melendugno, Puglia, Italy<\/a>, popularly known as Lovers\u2019 Arch, collapsed on Valentine\u2019s Day after strong storm surges and heavy rain swept across southern Italy.<\/p>\n

The rocky arch, one of the best-known natural landmarks on the Adriatic coast, got its name as it served as a backdrop for wedding proposals, selfies and postcards, and was one of the most recognisable symbols of the Salento, one of Italy\u2019s most heavily visited tourist areas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a devastating blow to the heart,\u201d said Melendugno\u2019s mayor<\/a>, Maurizio Cisternino. \u201cOne of the most famous tourist features of our coastline and of the whole of Italy has disappeared.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to local authorities, strong winds, rough seas and intense rainfall in recent days progressively weakened the rock structure until its final collapse<\/a> on Saturday. It is the most significant damage inflicted by coastal erosion<\/a> on the landscape of the Salento.<\/p>\n

\u201cNature has been overturned: what existed 30 years ago no longer exists. We must find the resources for an organic intervention,\u201d Cisternino added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a funeral,\u201d said Melendugno\u2019s tourism councillor, Francesco Stella.<\/p>\n

Mediterranean cyclones, known as medicanes<\/a>, include Cyclone Harry which struck in January, have been devastating ports, homes and roads, reshaping the structure of coastlines. Medicanes are warm-core systems that are becoming increasingly frequent in the Mediterranean, driven by rising sea temperatures linked to the climate emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Mediterranean [experiencing] among its hottest years on record in 2025, warmer seas are supercharging the atmosphere and fuelling extreme events,\u201d said Christian Mulder, a professor of ecology and climate emergency at the University of Catania in Sicily.<\/p>\n

The destructive force of these cyclones, with winds exceeding 60mph (97km\/h) and seas whipped into waves of up to 15 metres, has left a long trail of devastation, destroying ports, damaging homes as well as tearing up roads and eating away long stretches of coastline in southern Italy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On 25 January, after torrential rain brought by Cyclone Harry, a devastating landslide tore away an entire slope in the town of Niscemi<\/a>, Sicily, creating a 4km-long chasm. Roads collapsed, cars were swallowed and whole sections of the urban fabric plunged into the valley below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The famous arch of the sea stacks at Sant\u2019Andrea in Melendugno, Puglia, Italy, popularly known as Lovers\u2019 Arch,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-429874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}