The famous arch of the sea stacks at Sant’Andrea in Melendugno, Puglia, Italy, popularly known as Lovers’ Arch, collapsed on Valentine’s Day after strong storm surges and heavy rain swept across southern Italy.
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’s most heavily visited tourist areas.
“It is a devastating blow to the heart,” said Melendugno’s mayor, Maurizio Cisternino. “One of the most famous tourist features of our coastline and of the whole of Italy has disappeared.”
According to local authorities, strong winds, rough seas and intense rainfall in recent days progressively weakened the rock structure until its final collapse on Saturday. It is the most significant damage inflicted by coastal erosion on the landscape of the Salento.
“Nature has been overturned: what existed 30 years ago no longer exists. We must find the resources for an organic intervention,” Cisternino added.
“It’s like a funeral,” said Melendugno’s tourism councillor, Francesco Stella.
Mediterranean cyclones, known as medicanes, 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.
“With the Mediterranean [experiencing] among its hottest years on record in 2025, warmer seas are supercharging the atmosphere and fuelling extreme events,” said Christian Mulder, a professor of ecology and climate emergency at the University of Catania in Sicily.
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.
On 25 January, after torrential rain brought by Cyclone Harry, a devastating landslide tore away an entire slope in the town of Niscemi, Sicily, creating a 4km-long chasm. Roads collapsed, cars were swallowed and whole sections of the urban fabric plunged into the valley below.
