In the 1960s, “free camping” -a temporary habitation of the countryside, using non-permanent accommodation in areas not designated as areas for extended stays- echoed a sense of utopianism, and ideological distancing from the semi-structured communities of a vacation car-camp. It attracted social groups with limited means, such as rebellious youth, who sought contact with nature in remote and isolated settings, immune to the growing consumerisation of leisure, as the ephemeral occupation of the landscape left no permanent traces. In short, it represented a form of non-conformity that, eventually, was not welcomed by the state or most local communities, as reflected in the strict legislative framework attempting to contain the phenomenon. Law 392/1976 tightened the legal framework for “free camping” by deeming illegal the setting up of camps or parking caravans near archaeological sites, beaches, public areas, or along the fringes of public forests. Offenders faced up to three months of imprisonment and a fine. However, driven by the postwar popularisation of free camping, official tourism policies began to incorporate and refashion “free camping’s” non-conformity by promoting campsites as a way for the state to recapture some of the draining freedom, independence, and anti-conventionality of the modern world. This co-optation -where the “other” becomes mainstream- constitutes a paradoxical trait of modern camping.