For decades, the sunlounger has been a battlefield, and Germans have been cast as the towel-wielding villains of the holiday resort. But a new YouGov poll suggests this stereotype is largely a figment of British and German imaginations, with the real culprits hailing from sunnier climes: Italy and France.

The survey found that while 51% of Germans and 46% of Britons believe Germans are the prime offenders when it comes to reserving loungers with towels at dawn, only 5-17% of respondents in other European countries share this view. And when it comes to actual behavior, just 38% of German holidaymakers admit to ever using a towel to stake a claim, compared to 45% of their Italian and French counterparts. Britons, ever the polite ones, are least likely to confess, at 33%.

Despite the widespread practice, most Europeans (60-82%) consider it unacceptable, according to YouGov. Yet 51-63% say they've found themselves lounger-less because all were taken, and 14-28% admit to taking matters into their own hands by removing someone else's towel.

In Rome, the Guardian found no one willing to admit to the habit, though many could believe the data. Claudia Morani, a teacher, said she would never do it but has seen fellow Italians leaving towels on loungers overnight to secure them for the next morning. "This kind of thing happens a lot on beaches here, too - the free ones," she added.

Indeed, Italy has a perhaps even more egregious breed of beach hog: the furbetti dell'ombrellone, or umbrella cheats, who leave umbrellas pitched overnight to reserve prime spots on free beaches. This practice is growing as Italians increasingly shun private beach concessions due to high prices. Coastal authorities are fighting back, with dawn sweeps seizing items like umbrellas and loungers. In late July, a suburb of Naples confiscated 40 items from a popular free beach, and similar operations have occurred in Puglia and Sardinia. Fines up to €500 await the culprits, who also face a bureaucratic ordeal to reclaim their belongings.

Danilo Ruggiero, an activist with Mare Libero, a network fighting to reclaim beaches from private concessions, suggests the habit is less about malice and more about convenience: "People not wanting to carry umbrellas, chairs and other equipment back and forth from home, especially in the heat. But there is a tendency to try to get the best position by the sea, and this shouldn't be done."

Meanwhile, in France, the findings come as no surprise to some. Chantal Henry, who lives in Menton near the Italian border, says, "I see it all the time at my local beach club. I get really fed up with it." Her friend Virginie Pascual blames the Italians: "It is always the Italians." However, a Briton living in France, who requested anonymity due to German colleagues, insists Germans are the worst, recalling a 5:30am encounter in Mallorca with a German man hoarding five loungers with towels.

So, while the stereotype may be misplaced, the towel wars rage on, with no nation willing to claim the crown of champion lounger hog - at least not publicly.