Too many interventions to save imprudent tourists: the squeeze is coming. From 2026, the rescue operations of the Financial Police will have to be paid for by those who find themselves in emergency situations due to negligent behavior or by those who request the use of Fiamme Gialle vehicles and personnel without justification.
The new rules are included in the budget bill under discussion in the Senate, to rationalize the costs of the numerous rescues requested by hikers who face the mountain with inadequate equipment or ignoring bans and warnings from the authorities. The same will apply, with due differences, also for rescues at sea.
The crackdown on the financial police’s rescue services
According to what emerges from the latest report from the Financial Police, in 2024 a total of 2,517 interventions by the Corps’ Alpine Rescue were recorded, with 2,857 people rescued and 228 bodies recovered.
The numbers for the first five months of 2025 speak of 1,241 SAGF operations, which allowed the safety of 1,284 people and the recovery of 44 bodies.
The introduction of paid rescue services by the Gdf was designed precisely to discourage the irresponsible use of the high altitude rescue service paid for by the State and as a deterrent for imprudent hikers, who in recent years have cyclically transformed into tourists in difficulty or lost in the mountains.
At the moment the restriction should only concern the Financial Police, while the operations of the other bodies are not included, which would therefore remain without costs for those who benefit from them.
Paid rescue operations: the cases
The novelty is foreseen in paragraphs 11 and 12 of article 129 of the latest version of the 2026 Budget, dedicated to the “Regulations for the revision and rationalization of spending”, among all the interventions in no particular order that should lead to some savings in the houses of the State.
The law establishes the payment of a fee to the Ministry of Economy for search, rescue and rescue operations of the Financial Police, if the event is attributable to the person rescued, which causes accidents at sea, in inland waters or in the mountains due to willful misconduct or gross negligence and even if the request is “unmotivated or unjustified”.
The rescue and assistance obligations provided for by the Navigation Code remain valid and in any case the interventions will not be charged if justified by the situation of actual emergency and danger.
The MEF will establish the tariff for GDF operations by calculating costs on an hourly or flat-rate basis in relation to the various items, from the use of personnel and vehicles, to the fuel and equipment used.
Consider that a search intervention in impervious conditions can cost up to over 5 thousand euros per hour, in the event of the need to resort to several teams of rescuers with helicopters, drones and dog units.
