Site Story

The first biological studies on Portofino can be date at Raffaele Issel (1911-1918), pioneer of Italian marine biology. He studied, among the first, the fauna associated with meadow Posidonia along the Portofino coast.

At the end of 50s, Enrico Torinese, director of Natural Science Museum of Genoa, conducted several researches on coralligenous populations. From 70s, these studies have been followed by a series of works for the identification of the main ecological characteristics of the area, mainly conducted by University of Genoa.
From 1999 the site is part of the Marine Protected Area (MAP) of Portofino, including the municipalities of Camogli, Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure. The MAP is managed by a Consortium of which the University of Genoa is institutional part together with the Municipality of Camogli, Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino and with the Province of Genoa.