Christ of the Abyss

Bronze statue of Christ submerged 17 metres below the surface off San Fruttuoso

The Cristo degli Abissi is a bronze statue of Christ, arms raised toward the surface, resting on the seabed at a depth of 17 metres in the bay of San Fruttuoso. It was placed there in 1954 and has become one of the most famous dive sites in the Mediterranean. If you snorkel or scuba dive in the bay you can see it clearly; in calm, clear conditions some visitors report being able to make out the raised arms from a glass-bottomed boat.

The statue was sculpted by Guido Galletti and stands about 2.5 metres tall, with the outstretched arms adding another metre. The figure has become slightly encrusted with marine life over the decades, which only adds to its otherworldly quality. Several dive operators in Camogli and Santa Margherita Ligure offer guided dives to the statue; this is suitable for beginners with basic open-water certification.

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The original statue was placed on the seabed in 1954 by Duilio Marcante, a pioneer of Italian diving, in memory of Dario Gonzatti, the first Italian to die while scuba diving. It has been raised twice for restoration — most recently in 2003-2004 — and casts of the original mould now stand in harbour entrances from Grenada to San Frisquito Bay in the United States. The San Fruttuoso original remains the most visited.