Best beaches near Reggio Emilia

Did you mean Reggio Emilia near Bologna? (was wondering if you actually meant Reggio Calabria, which is on the coast).

Reggio Emilia near Bologna

I've been to beaches in La Marche but think there are probably some farther up the coast that I don't know about. Thanks for your recommendations.

It's not for just a day trip, right? Train times look rather long and drive times not much better. Both are at least two hours, one way.
If he has a couple days to spare to make some coastal time happen, I would either head to La Spezia and from there to Lerici-Tellaro for the beaches. Or perhaps to Rimini, if that is the kind of beach he is looking for (further south, there are some marvelous natural beaches)

I'm hoping there's something on the Adriatic side! Will look at Rimini.

Rimini is on the Adriatic, but I don't know of any beach I would travel two+ hours each way for.
If it is for a couple days, Senigallia and Fano are both great. There are lovely beaches in San Bartolo park north of Pesaro (south of Rimini), but he'd need a car.
There are some basic beaches close to Ravenna.

Car or train?
Day trip or more?

They're probably thinking daytrip and train. It's not how I would spend my time in Italy.... May need to head them away from this idea, especially since they are probably picturing white sand, Florida gulf coast. But I didn't want to discourage them if there is some beautiful nearby beach that I'm not aware of.

Not without a magic carpet, lol!

The closest in terms of time to get there would be RIMINI, which has Frecciarossa train options that can get your there in just over 1.5 hours. It's a sandy beach with shallow waters (definitely not a Caribbean white sand beach), but Rimini is lively (and pretty full of people) in July. I prefer Cesenatico a bit to the north, but Rimini is more convenient by fast train.
The options suggested above on the Ligurian sea (near La Spezia), would be more beautiful, and are closer in terms of distance, but by train takes a lot longer (2.5 hours to 3 hours), so it would be more feasible only if you stay longer than just a day trip.

This is like asking about ocean bathing from Allentown, PA or from Charlotte, NC. Beaches are probably better in and near Georgia anyway. Note recent droughts when reading this from 2014.:

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/apr/25/top-10-wild-swimming-locations-in-italy

Don't they want to see Florence?

@Roberto, this is most helpful. Thanks!

@Tim, LOL they want to see it ALL - Venice, beach, Florence, Rome, Amalfi Coast - in a week of day trips from Reggio Emilia plus another travel week afterward. It's their first trip to Europe! We'll get it narrowed down to something doable. I've only had 24 hrs to think about it!

Aw, they have a whole other week where they will be on the coast--provided they go to Amalfi. Much easier to get beach time there!
Florence would be much closer to some nice beaches as well.

In Reggio Emilia there is even a very nice Olympic-size swimming pool, Aquatico: https://www.aquatico.it/ . You waste much less time to go there! But if he is in Reggio to swim probably he uses the indoor pool, used even by the Italian national team (there is even an outdoor space in Summer).
Said that, for a week of daytrips while he's swimming the beach isn't the best idea, even thinking that there is so much to visit around Reggio Emilia. By train they can easily visit Parma, Modena, Bologna within 1 hour. And if they rent a car there are much more places in the countryside.
Going to Liguria (where in fact there are almost no beaches but a rocky seashore) is not far from Reggio, but is tricky because in the middle there is a mountain chain (Appennini): both by car or train means at least a couple of hours each way. Easier should be go to Romagna (Rimini or Riccione are the easiest targets), but again by train means more than one hour each way. The beaches in Rimini/Riccione are sandy, very wide but not very scenic like the traditional Italian shores. On the other side are plenty of "bagni" where you can find any kind of fun and facilities.
July is even a month of events in Emilia-Romagna, so my suggestion is to clear beaches from they minds and talk about everything else, starting from what they like more.

Ricky, great advice! I totally agree! I'll give them so many ideas they'll forget about the beach!

We did the beach at Rimini some years ago and were NOT impressed. There was an unusual odor there, not sure what and the beaches were not that nice.