Diving: close contact with the Big Blue
2 minutes
If that weren't enough, the boot of Italy is dotted with blue pearls, small and large lakes in the plains areas or high in the mountains that characterize our landscapes. Finding out what's under that delicate line separating water from sky is an impulse that encourages more and more people to have a go at diving. Many courses are available in Italy, even during a short stay, to get closer to this experience in many places where sea-beds are home to wonders. All designed by Mother Nature, of course, with the colours of gorgonian corals home to a rich variety of marine fauna, as well as homo sapiens over the centuries. Under the water, just off the coastlines, evident traces of human evolution emerge which, in Italy as in few other parts of the world, bear witness to an indissoluble bond with our past.
Liguria: a rainbow of life
About eight km of rock faces, cracks and ravines - with depths varying between 18 and 40 metres - where you can experience the wonders of the underwater world: Secca di Santo Stefano al Mare is home to groupers and lobsters that, as they move, reflect light on to the gorgonian corals on the sea-bed.
Abruzzo: i mulini sommersi
An artificial reservoir preserves two mills in its waters: you can still admire the blades that operated the millstones in one mill, while you can visit the submerged settings and structures of the other. Capo d'Acqua is a village near Capestrano (L'Aquila) in the middle of the Abruzzo National Park and the heart of unspoilt nature.
Apulia: guided by the lighthouse in a natural park
To the north of the lighthouse on the island of Sant'Andrea, Gallipoli, there is a scenario that only the best will find: divers need a licence to go and discover a sea-bed covered by gorgonian corals and other formations that make every dive so evocative.
Calabria: the Castle and the Mountain
The sheer spectacle and its many forms of life make the "Submerged Mountain" - under Scilla Castle - one of the most beautiful places for diving in the entire Mediterranean. You can float at the feet of the majestic mountain peak, on an expanse of white sand and red and yellow gorgonian corals.
Sicily: Italian sea with a tropical sea-bed
The last stretch of Italian land pointing towards Africa: you really are far from everything else here, in front of a tiny island with its lighthouse and ruins - and it is also this context that makes diving in Lampione, one of Pelagie islands near Lampedusa, so magical. The scene awaiting you under crystal clear waters is one of rare beauty: sea beds with classic tropical fauna, including groupers, parrot fish and triggerfish.
