The Portofino Marine Protected Area safeguards the sea that wraps around three sides of the famous promontory, among the towns of Camogli, Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure. Established by ministerial decree in 1999, it protects roughly 376 hectares of sea and ranks among the richest and best-preserved marine areas in the Mediterranean, celebrated by divers worldwide for its sheer underwater walls, its red coral and its gorgonian fans. Its watery boundary hugs the coast of the Portofino Park, from Punta Chiappa to the bay of San Fruttuoso and on to the cliffs that drop towards Santa Margherita.
A protected sea around the promontory
The Portofino Marine Protected Area was established by decree of the Italian Ministry of the Environment on 26 April 1999, as part of the national system of Italian marine protected areas. Its creation completed, on the seaward side, the protection already granted on land by the Portofino Park, giving rise to an integrated system that protects together the Mediterranean scrub of the promontory, its cliffs and the seabed below. The two remain legally distinct, yet they share the same landscape and a close synergy of management and conservation goals.
The area is run by a management consortium that brings together the Metropolitan City of Genoa, the municipalities of Camogli, Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure, and the University of Genoa. The university’s involvement is no accident: the Portofino promontory has for decades been an open-air laboratory for marine biology, and the area’s seabeds are among the most studied in Italy. Precisely because of its scientific value, the MPA is recognised as a SPAMI site — a Specially Protected Area of Mediterranean Importance under the Barcelona Convention — and is part of the long-term ecological research (LTER) network.
The local geography explains much of its wealth. The Portofino promontory is a block of conglomerate and limestone that thrusts into the sea with vertical walls: the rock that forms sheer cliffs above the surface continues underwater with rockfalls and overhangs that plunge quickly into the blue. This morphology creates an extraordinary variety of microhabitats within a few dozen metres of depth, a rare condition in the Mediterranean and the foundation of the area’s fame among scuba divers.
The three protection zones
Like all Italian marine protected areas, the one at Portofino is divided into zones with decreasing levels of protection, identified by the letters A, B and C. Understanding the zoning is essential to move correctly at sea and to respect the rules.
The Zone A, of full protection, is the most strictly safeguarded and lies at Cala dell’Oro, in the stretch between Punta Torretta and Punta del Buco. Here access, navigation, anchoring, bathing, fishing and diving are all forbidden: the only permitted activity is authorised scientific research. It is, in practice, an area of absolute quiet, designed to let ecosystems evolve undisturbed and to act as a biodiversity reservoir for the rest of the reserve.
The Zone B, of general reserve, is the largest and runs from the Portofino lighthouse to Punta Chiappa, on the San Rocco di Camogli side, excluding the access channel and roadstead of San Fruttuoso. It is the underwater heart of the area: scuba diving is allowed for authorised diving centres and accredited divers, while freediving and bathing are free within safety regulations. Recreational fishing is permitted with heavy restrictions and, as a rule, reserved for residents. Shore entries for diving are allowed only at specific points such as Punta Chiappa, il Dragone and la Colombara.
The Zone C, of partial reserve, extends along the two outer flanks of the promontory and operates under the least restrictive regime: bathing and diving are generally free, subject to local limitations for habitat protection. It is in Zone C that some of the area’s most extensive and best-preserved Posidonia meadows are found, a detail that makes this stretch as precious as the rocky seabeds at the core of the reserve.
Life underwater: coral, gorgonians and meadows
The true treasure of the Portofino Marine Protected Area is what lives below the surface. The shaded, current-swept rock walls host thickets of red gorgonian (Paramuricea clavata), whose purple fans have become the symbol of Ligurian seabeds. In the more sheltered crevices and at depth grows the celebrated red coral (Corallium rubrum), historically tied to the Ligurian tradition of coral working and today strictly protected.
The meadows of Posidonia (Posidonia oceanica), a seagrass endemic to the Mediterranean, carpet the sandy bottoms and act as a nursery: among the leaves, eggs, fry and small fish find shelter, while the roots hold the sediment and oxygenate the water. Fish life is abundant and varied: groupers, sea breams, dentex, morays, octopuses and sea urchins populate the cliffs and crevices, and encounters with large brown groupers — a valuable indicator of a healthy sea — are far from rare. The rapid succession of different habitats — shoals, rockfalls, caves, vertical walls — means that a few metres of swimming are enough to completely change the underwater scenery.
This concentration of life has made Portofino one of the most renowned diving destinations in the Mediterranean, with more than twenty dive sites around the promontory: from the Lighthouse to the Secca dell’Isuela, from Punta del Faro to il Dragone, from la Colombara to Punta Chiappa. Each site has its own character, and local diving centres organise guided outings in compliance with the reserve’s rules.
A fragile heritage to monitor
The richness of Portofino’s seabeds is not something acquired once and for all: it is the result of decades of protection and constant monitoring. The gorgonian walls, in particular, are sensitive to temperature swings and to the marine heatwaves that in recent years have struck the Mediterranean, causing episodes of mortality among the red fans. For this reason the biologists working in the area carry out periodic surveys to measure the health of the Paramuricea clavata populations, the cover of the Posidonia meadows and the presence of indicator species, from large groupers to reef fish.
Tourist pressure also demands attention. The sea around the promontory is among the busiest in Liguria, with thousands of pleasure-boat moorings and tens of thousands of dives every season. To reconcile use with conservation, the managing body has introduced fixed-buoy mooring systems that keep anchors from ploughing the seabed and tearing Posidonia roots, strict navigation rules and marked underwater routes. The underlying logic is that of all well-managed marine protected areas: not to exclude people, but to teach them a compatible use, so that the sea can keep regenerating. It is partly for this work of research and outreach that the MPA collaborates steadily with the University of Genoa and with national and Mediterranean scientific networks.
The Christ of the Abyss at San Fruttuoso
The most famous spot in the area, even for those who do not dive, is the Christ of the Abyss (Cristo degli Abissi), the bronze statue resting on the seabed in the bay of San Fruttuoso, within Zone B. The work, immersed in 1954 and created by the sculptor Guido Galletti, depicts a Christ with arms reaching towards the surface and is dedicated to the memory of those lost at sea. It rests on a seabed of about seventeen metres and can be reached on a short dive or, on clear-water days, even glimpsed by snorkellers from the surface. Together with the medieval abbey of San Fruttuoso, nestled in its tiny bay reachable only by sea or on foot, it is one of the most beloved symbols of the entire eastern Ligurian coast.
Between history and nature
The Marine Protected Area is not only a natural matter: the Portofino promontory has been inhabited and frequented for centuries, and the sea that surrounds it has shaped the life of the coastal communities. At San Fruttuoso, the Benedictine abbey founded around the tenth century bears witness to how ancient the bond is between these steep slopes and the sea, for centuries the only way to reach an otherwise inaccessible bay. At Camogli, a village of sailors and nets, the tradition of fishing today coexists with the rules of protection, while the red coral that grows on the seabed recalls an old Ligurian economy of precious craftsmanship. Visiting the reserve therefore means crossing this layering of stories too: fishing villages, ridge trails, terraces cultivated on sheer slopes and a roadstead that has seen pilgrims, monks and seafarers pass by. It is in this interweaving of human landscape and marine environment that much of the promontory’s charm resides.
How to visit the area
The Marine Protected Area is not a place to “visit” in the traditional sense, with an entrance and a ticket: it is a stretch of open sea, available to those who frequent it with respect. The simplest way to discover it is by sea. From the harbours of Camogli, Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure, scheduled ferries and boat trips set off for San Fruttuoso and Punta Chiappa, the two most striking vantage points over the reserve. Those who prefer to walk can reach both places on foot along the trails of the Portofino Park, crossing woods and terraces to reach the sheer overlooks above the protected sea.
For those who want to experience the area underwater, authorised diving centres organise guided outings to the main sites, in line with the zoning and with the fixed-buoy mooring systems designed to avoid damaging the Posidonia meadows. Swimming and snorkelling are free in Zones B and C, while access to Zone A is forbidden. It is wise to check the current rules before getting in the water, especially for navigation and anchoring, which are subject to strict limitations.
The information point and administrative seat of the MPA are in Santa Margherita Ligure, at Viale Rainusso 1, where the management office handles permits for diving, mooring and educational activities. Access to the reserve’s sea is free; any costs relate to private services — boat trips, rentals, guided dives — and not to the use of the area itself. Visiting the Portofino Marine Protected Area means, above all, learning to look at the sea with different eyes: as a living, fragile environment, to be crossed leaving the smallest possible mark.
