Buon giorno!
My family and I are visiting Italy this fall, specifically places on the western side of the peninsula, and I'm hoping to get in a day of diving. What place or places would you recommend?
Ciao!
Staying on the west coasts, from north to south....
Liguria is plenty of wrecks if you are interested, and there are marine protected areas like Portofino which are very nice to dive
Slightly off the coast of Tuscany there are wonderful islands like Elba and Giglio, plenty of very nice dive spots, if you go further Sardegna is plenty of wonderful dives as well
Staying in Tuscany I'd say Argentario area is good as well
In Lazio Ponza is famous for good diving, never been there though
Closed to Napoli there is a place which is on my bucket list... Baia Bacoli, where you can dive in 6m of water going through Roman's villas mosaics...
Marina di Camerota and Palinuro are famous for cave diving
Ustica, Marettimo, Favignana, Lampedusa are islands off Sicilian coasts which are as well wonderful for diving.
So... Plenty of places... And for sure I forgot many others...
Said this, remember that despite being a small country we have more or less 8000 km of coasts... Let us know where you plan to stay and we will be more precise with advices.
Ciao,
Rick