Massa Lubrense, Campania, Italy

Punta Campanella

Punta Campanella is the rocky cape at the very tip of the Sorrento Peninsula, facing the island of Capri across the narrow Bocca Piccola channel. The Punta Campanella Marine Protected Area covers more than 1500 hectares of coastline along the Amalfi-Sorrento coast and is one of the richest reserves of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Dives along the cape descend in stepped reef terraces from a shallow plateau near 8 metres to about 35 metres on a rocky base. Walls are decorated with yellow Eunicella cavolini fans, red gorgonian (Paramuricea clavata) patches in the deeper sections, encrusting orange Astroides calycularis on shaded faces, yellow Parazoanthus axinellae and red and yellow sponges. Resident species include dusky groupers, brown meagre, conger eels, octopus, moray eels and scorpionfish; barracuda and amberjack schools commonly cross the open water. The exposure to the channel between Sorrento and Capri generates moderate currents that demand attention. Visibility regularly reaches 15–25 metres in summer.