Portofino Marine Reserve · Italy · Artificial reef
Cristo degli Abissi
A 2.5 m bronze Christ standing on the seabed at 17 m
Photo: Lucianoro1 · CC BY-SA 4.0
A bronze Christ standing on the seabed of San Fruttuoso bay, its apex at about 13 m and its base at roughly 17 m. Brown damselfish mass around the figure and banded sea bream school over the ground at its foot. The reserve rates it an easy dive and deliberately confines it to the small bay, so the whole thing happens inside a 50 m circle around the mooring.
Also known as Christ of the Abyss.
Where it is and how deep
44.3133° N, 9.1753° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
You descend on the mooring in the small bay and the bronze appears almost at once, standing on the bottom with the whole figure inside a single shallow band of water. Most of the dive is spent circling it, which is what the site is for. Brown grouper and Mediterranean triggerfish turn up occasionally over the rock nearby, and the bay floor around the base is open ground rather than a maze, so a group stays together easily.
The reserve confines the dive to a circle of 50 m radius around the mooring, and the mooring chain marks the limit of the exploration, so the bay floor beyond the statue is as far as anyone goes. To the west the bottom drops away steadily into seagrass — Posidonia oceanica — with starfish on the open ground and larger groupers holding on the deeper part, which runs to 30 m.
Background
The bronze was placed in the sea on 22 August 1954, near the spot where Dario Gonzatti, the first Italian to use scuba gear, had died in 1947. It was sculpted by Guido Galletti from an idea of the diving instructor Duilio Marcante, stands 2.5 m tall, and is considered the first statue of its kind set below the surface — a symbol for divers, and copied at sites elsewhere since. It was removed from the water and restored in 2003, returned on a new base on 17 July 2004, and cleaned again in 2018.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Portofino Marine Reserve: May–Oct is the settled season; visibility is often best in late autumn, and winter storms close the exposed southern walls.
Photos from Cristo degli Abissi
Victor Micallef · CC BY-SA 4.0
yoruno · CC BY 3.0
Clbianco · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dive videos
Epic dive at The Christ of the Abyss - Cristo degli abissi - · Abyss Adventures on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Cristo degli Abissi?+
The statue's apex is at about 13 m and its base at roughly 17 m, which keeps it inside Open Water limits. The published range for the site is 12 to 30 m, the deeper figure being the bay floor west of the statue.
Do you need experience to dive it?+
No. The Portofino reserve rates it an easy dive and deliberately limits it to the small bay: divers stay inside a circular space of 50 m radius around the mooring structure, so navigation and depth both stay simple.
Sources
- Cristo degli Abissi — dive site — Area Marina Protetta di Portofino
- Christ of the Abyss — Wikipedia
- Cristo degli abissi (OSM node) — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- Bronze Christ statue standing underwater with arms raised against a bright blue-green sea by Lucianoro1, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Close-up of the bronze statue's head and raised arm encrusted with marine growth by Victor Micallef, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Weathered bronze memorial plate mounted on the underwater statue's base by yoruno, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Rocky, algae-covered seabed of San Fruttuoso bay with a small fish swimming past by Clbianco, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More dive sites in Portofino Marine Reserve
Wall
Probably the finest red coral colony in the reserve
Wall
Rare false black coral on the points at 50 m
Cave & cavern
Three caves, the deepest at 30–35 m ringed with red coral
Wall
A submerged tunnel through the rock at 18 m
Red coral and lobster on the rocks out towards open water
Wall
A shrimp-filled cave at 37 m under a rock headland
Large red gorgonians on the slope under the lighthouse
Green ball algae at 12–20 m, nudibranchs on the deep wall
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