Punta Campanella Marine Reserve

Discover an outstanding place, Punta Campanella Marine Reserve

The realization of Punta Campanella Marine Reserve follows the aim to preserve one fo the most beautiful and charming stretches of the entire Italian and Mediterranean coast, both for terrestrial and for the underwater environment.
Punta Campanella was called by the Greeks “Promontorio Ateneo”, because they built here a temple dedicated to Athena. The current name derived from an ancient legend. On Saint Valentine’s day, some pirates landed in Sorrento and they stole everything they found inside the church of San Antonio Abate, including the bells. While they were fleeing by the sea, a storm sank their ship, right in the Punta Campanella area. From that day, it is said that every year, exactly on Saint Valentine’s day, the stolen bell rings from the bottom of the sea (“campanella” means, literally, “little bell”!).

The coast is characterized by calcareous walls, sometimes gently degrading towards the sea, and covered by pyroclastic materials, from the Vesuvio volcano. The lush green of the Mediterranean Maquis creates a perfect setting in which is easy to observe many migratory species of birds, like the buzzard or the sparrowhawk, passing through the Italian peninsula and islands on their way from Europe to Africa and vice versa.
Underwater you will find an authentic unforgettable Eden. Grey mullets, sea basses, sea horses, starfishes, sea urchins, sea turtles and dolphins swim in a pristine clear water, in an evocating setting composed of weeds of infinite colors. It’s probably the best underwater landscape you can see in the entire Mediterranean Sea.
Several inlets created by the erosion phenomena and, of course, by the sea, design a marvelous natural setting, also perfect for some trekking joining the various itineraries, characterized, just like the sea, by a high biodiversity.
A few miles off the coast, small reefs like Vervece and Li Galli represent authentic corner of Paradise for scuba divers. The first is an authentic sea sanctuary for the presence at 12 meters of depth of the statue of the Virgin Mary which protects divers.
You can experience the pleasure of diving into the clear waters of Punta Campanella booking one of our boat tours from Sorrento, Positano, Capri, Amalfi or Naples. The location is incredibly charming and could be also perfect, at sunset, to pop your proposal. Discover our tours now and explore the most beautiful coast in the whole Belpaese.