# Italy's 30 marine protected areas, and their zones

> Italy has 30 marine protected areas plus 2 submerged parks, about 231,000 hectares of sea. ISPRA counts 311,463 hectares for the same 30 sites.

URL: https://myitalia.it/best/marine-protected-areas
Last updated: 2026-09-02

Italy has 30 established marine protected areas and 2 submerged parks, covering about 231,000 hectares of sea and about 711 km of coast on the environment ministry's 2026 count, and what you can do inside each one depends on its zone, not on its name.

## The criterion: an establishing decree, not a ranking

Every site on this page is here because a ministerial decree established it, and for no other reason. There is no order of merit, and there is no order by size either, because the ministry does not publish a surface figure for each individual area.

That absence is the reason most "best marine reserves in Italy" lists are arbitrary: with no per-site number, any ranking is somebody's preference. The list below is the official register, alphabetical, exactly as it is published.

## Two official surface figures for the same 30 areas

The environment ministry gives about 231,000 hectares of protected sea for the 30 areas; the ISPRA indicator gives 311,463 hectares for the same 30. The difference comes from which perimeters each body counts, not from a mistake.

ISPRA also spreads those 30 areas across 10 regions and records growth of 3.1% in protected sea surface between 2012 and 2023. Its own warning is worth repeating: surface does not measure protection, because what protects the water is the zoning and the enforcement.

Separately, the seventh update of the official protected areas register, adopted by ministerial decree on July 29, 2026, counts 3,456.97 km of Italian coast inside protected areas of every kind.

## Zones A, B and C decide what you can actually do

Each marine protected area is cut into zones with decreasing protection: zone A is an integral reserve, zone B a general reserve, zone C a partial reserve. The letters are the same everywhere, so once you have learned them they work in all 30 areas.

Zone A is the core, and it is the one where swimming, anchoring and fishing are usually excluded or allowed only with a permit. Zone C is where most visitor activity happens. The exact rules per zone are set area by area, so the map at the harbor office is the document that counts, not a general article.

## The 30 areas, as the ministry lists them

All 30 are below in the order the ministry publishes them, which is alphabetical and carries no meaning beyond the alphabet.

Capo Caccia-Isola Piana, Capo Carbonara, Capo Gallo-Isola delle Femmine, Capo Milazzo, Capo Rizzuto, Capo Spartivento, Capo Testa-Punta Falcone, Cinque Terre, Costa degli Infreschi e della Masseta, Isole Egadi, Isola dell'Asinara, Isola di Bergeggi, Isola di Ustica, Isole di Ventotene e Santo Stefano, Isole Ciclopi, Isole Pelagie, Isole Tremiti, Miramare, Penisola del Sinis-Isola di Mal di Ventre, Plemmirio, Porto Cesareo, Portofino, Punta Campanella, Regno di Nettuno, Santa Maria di Castellabate, Secche della Meloria, Secche di Tor Paterno, Tavolara-Punta Coda Cavallo, Torre del Cerrano, Torre Guaceto.

One name on that list will already be on your itinerary for another reason: Cinque Terre is a marine protected area as well as a World Heritage property, and the two designations are administered by different bodies with different rules. The water rules are not the trail rules.

## The two submerged parks are archaeology, not sea

Italy's 2 submerged parks are Baia and Gaiola, both in the Phlegraean area near Naples, and they sit outside the count of 30. What they protect is a Roman townscape that subsidence took under water, so the object of the visit is a ruin rather than a habitat.

Some institutional communications say Italy has 31 protected marine sites by folding the submerged parks into the total differently. Both counts are defensible; this page keeps them separate because the founding acts are separate.

## What is not published, and where that leaves you

The ministry page that lists the 30 areas gives neither a surface nor a region for any single one of them. It also does not say which Italian areas carry the Mediterranean ASPIM designation under the Barcelona Convention, and we have not verified that list elsewhere.

So the practical route is unglamorous: pick the area, find the managing body, read its zone map. There is no national table that will do that step for you.

## FAQ

### How many marine protected areas does Italy have?

30 established marine protected areas, plus 2 submerged parks that are governed separately. Together they cover about 231,000 hectares of sea and about 711 km of coast, on the environment ministry's own count for 2026.

### Can you snorkel in an Italian marine protected area?

It depends on the zone. Every area is divided into zone A, an integral reserve, zone B, a general reserve, and zone C, a partial reserve, with protection decreasing in that order. Zone A is the one where almost nothing is allowed, and each area publishes its own map.

### Which Italian marine protected areas are the newest?

Capo Spartivento in Sardinia, established in 2023, is the most recent. Before it came Capo Testa-Punta Falcone and Capo Milazzo, both in 2018. Between 2012 and 2023 the protected sea surface grew by 3.1%, so the network is nearly static.

### What is a submerged park and where are they?

A submerged park protects archaeology under water rather than a stretch of open sea. Italy has 2, Baia and Gaiola, both in the Phlegraean area of Campania, and they are counted apart from the 30 marine protected areas.

### Is a marine protected area the same as a Blue Flag beach?

No. A marine protected area is established by ministerial decree and regulates what you may do in the water across 30 sites and about 231,000 hectares. A Blue Flag is an award given to a municipality, and it says nothing about diving, anchoring or fishing rules.

## Sources

| Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until |
|---|---|---|---|
| In Italia le aree marine protette istituite sono 30, cui si aggiungono 2 parchi sommersi; tutelano complessivamente circa 231.000 ettari di mare e circa 711 km di costa (MASE, 2026). | [Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica (MASE)](https://www.mase.gov.it/portale/aree-marine-istituite) | medium | 2027-12-31 |
| Elenco delle 30 aree marine protette istituite in Italia (MASE, 2026). | [Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica (MASE)](https://www.mase.gov.it/portale/aree-marine-istituite) | medium | 2027-12-31 |
| Secondo l'indicatore ISPRA, le 30 aree marine protette italiane sono distribuite in 10 regioni e tutelano 311.463 ettari di superficie marina; tra il 2012 e il 2023 la superficie marina protetta e' cresciuta del 3,1%. | [ISPRA - Annuario dei dati ambientali](https://indicatoriambientali.isprambiente.it/en/protected-areas/marine-protected-areas) | medium | 2027-06-30 |
| Le aree marine protette italiane sono suddivise in zone a tutela decrescente: zona A (riserva integrale), zona B (riserva generale) e zona C (riserva parziale). | [Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica (MASE)](https://www.mase.gov.it/portale/aree-marine-protette-2) | medium | 2099-12-31 |
| I due parchi sommersi italiani sono il Parco sommerso di Baia e il Parco sommerso di Gaiola, entrambi in Campania (area flegrea). | [Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica (MASE)](https://www.mase.gov.it/portale/aree-marine-istituite) | medium | 2029-12-31 |
| Le aree protette italiane interessano 3.456,97 km di costa secondo il VII aggiornamento dell'Elenco Ufficiale delle Aree Protette (decreto MASE del 29 luglio 2026). | [Ministero dell'Ambiente e della Sicurezza Energetica (MASE)](https://www.mase.gov.it/portale/web/guest/-/natura-mase-1048-aree-protette-in-italia.-pichetto-patrimonio-comune-da-difendere-e-calorizzare-) | medium | 2028-12-31 |

## Image

https://media.myitalia.it/media/nature.torre-guaceto.1600.jpg
Author: Gabriele nex. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carovigno_-_Riserva_naturale_statale_Torre_Guaceto_-_202109102031.jpg

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