Spielberg hits trouble on the beach

Steven Spielberg's summer cruise around Sardinia with his god-daughter Gwyneth Paltrow and friends has hit trouble because of vigilant Italian beachgoers and Italy's strict rules on having fun.

The Oscar-winning director anchored his 85 metre yacht off the island and his guests got on to a 10 metre dinghy and headed for the beautiful Porto Liscia beach, near the billionaires' haunt of Porto Cervo.

But sunbathers on the beach were quick to call the coastguard after noticing the glamorous landing party and accompanying bodyguards had ignored one of the many Italian beach rules that trip up the super rich each summer, The Guardian reported.

"We were called to the scene after being told that a dinghy had come within 300 metres of the shore with its engine on, which is a fineable offence," said coastguard Commander Vincenzo Petrella. "We have a special hotline and get a lot of calls like this every summer, particularly after a swimmer was killed by a propeller recently at Porto Cervo."

Last month, the coastguard ejected a British TV crew who were setting up sofas for a shoot on a Sardinian beach in a nature reserve without a permit, an offence which prompted Italy's junior culture minister to complain to David Cameron.