SeaLogItaly · reef · intermediate
A cluster of rock summits 600 m off Vico Equense, closed to all fishing since 1993 and the best-known nursehound egg nursery in Italy.
Banco di Santa Croce is a submerged rocky bank in the south-eastern corner of the Gulf of Naples, about 600 m off the Vico Equense shore, roughly halfway between Punta Orlando and Torre Angellara. It is not a single rock: the operator that works it daily describes three main summits, the Secca Principale, the Secca di Terra and the Secca di Fuori, plus smaller outcrops, rising near-vertically out of sand at 45 to 50 m to caps that stop about 10 m below the surface. The IUCN shark specialists who assessed the bank in 2023 put the whole feature at 9 to 50 m over roughly 0.13 km2. Divers who have written it up count seven pinnacles in all, arranged around the two main summits.
Boats moor on a yellow buoy set over the Secca Principale, in line with Vesuvius, and the usual dive is a descent down the line to the cap at about 10 m and then a working of the walls below it. Two independent Italian accounts put the recreational range on the main summit at roughly 10 to 40 m; the Secca di Terra plateau sits shallower, around 23 m. Below 45 m the rock carries red coral and becomes technical ground, and one rebreather report describes reaching about 60 m. The vertical faces are the reason people come back: red and yellow gorgonian fans, cushions of orange Parazoanthus, sponges and colonies of the false black coral Savalia savaglia.
The bank is also a documented shark site. The 2023 Important Shark and Ray Area factsheet names it the most important known egg-nursery area in Italy for the nursehound, Scyliorhinus stellaris: a 2013 survey counted 60 egg cases along an 80 m2 transect, the eggs are laid onto the gorgonian fans, and adults rest year-round in the narrow rock crevices. A citizen-science photo-identification effort run with divers produced about 450 sightings between 2008 and 2023. Common eagle rays, Myliobatis aquila, are recorded from May to September in loose groups of up to eight.
Protection here is easy to get wrong, because the fishing rules and the diving rules are separate things. The bank has been a zona di tutela biologica since a ministerial decree of 15 June 1993, extended in January 2009 to a circle 1,000 m across, inside which all professional and recreational fishing, spearfishing included, is prohibited outright. Diving is not banned, but since February 2017 the state concession has been held by the Comune di Vico Equense, which sets the rules: guided visits only through authorised dive centres, a fee, an annual cap on the number of dives fixed by a municipal commission, a maximum of six divers per instructor and twelve per dive, no teaching or courses on the bank, and speed limits of 5 knots within 500 m of the mooring buoy. The bank also lies inside a Natura 2000 site. The outflow of the Sarno, one of Italy's most polluted rivers, is part of what feeds this productivity and is also what can flatten the visibility in the first few metres.
Boat only, out of Marina di Stabia or the port of Castellammare di Stabia; the resident diving centre is based on Corso Alcide de Gasperi in Castellammare. The main summit is marked by a yellow buoy lined up towards Vesuvius, and boats moor to it rather than anchoring. The run out is short, the bank being roughly 600 m off the Vico Equense shore.
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Diving is subject to authorisation from the Comune di Vico Equense, which has held the state concession since February 2017. Guided visits are permitted only through authorised dive centres, led by a qualified professional, with a maximum of six divers per instructor and twelve divers per dive. A ticket is charged. A municipal manager and a three-member commission fix the number of dives allowed each year and may change the daily cap and the number of boats allowed on site after monitoring. Diver training and courses on the bank are not permitted. Support boats must keep to 5 knots within 500 m of the mooring buoy and 10 knots beyond it. Residents of Vico Equense have priority for dive slots.
Banco di Santa Croce has been a zona di tutela biologica since the ministerial decree of 15 June 1993; the decree of 22 January 2009 set the protected circle at 1,000 m in diameter. Inside it all fishing is prohibited outright, professional and recreational alike, spearfishing included. That fishing ban is not a diving ban: diving is allowed, but only under the Comune di Vico Equense's own regulation, approved in 2017. The bank also falls inside a Natura 2000 site and was designated an Important Shark and Ray Area in 2023 for the nursehound and the common eagle ray. Nursehound egg cases are laid on the gorgonians here; they must not be touched or moved.
Late spring to autumn is when the bank is most reliably worked and when the water is warmest, from roughly 20 C in June to 28 C in August at 5 m. Eagle rays are recorded on the bank from May to September, and the operator that dives it year-round advertises them from May to October; bluefin tuna are reported in March and April instead. Nursehounds are seen through the year, so there is no season for them.
Water at 5 m runs from about 14 C at its coldest in March to about 28 C in August, on measurements taken at the bank. Summer brings strong daily swings in the thermocline, so the temperature at depth can change noticeably within a dive. Surface visibility is variable and worst when the Sarno is running; it generally improves as you drop down the walls.
On current: The ISRA assessment attributes the richness of the bank to strong currents and to the suspended matter carried in by the Sarno, so current is a normal feature here rather than an exception. Published Italian dive accounts describe checking the current direction on arriving at the cap and planning the circuit of the summit from that. Reports disagree on visibility: one trip report calls it good enough to see sunlight working across the rock, while the municipality's own tourism material says the first few metres are often poor and clear with depth. Take the second, and expect the surface layer to be the worst of it.
Best months: May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct
The bank runs from about 9 m at the shallowest summit down to the sand at 45 to 50 m. The usual recreational dive on the Secca Principale is a descent to the cap at around 10 m and then a working of the walls to 30 or 40 m; the Secca di Terra plateau is shallower, at about 23 m. Technical divers go below 45 m, where the rock carries red coral, and one published report describes reaching about 60 m.
Yes. Since February 2017 the Comune di Vico Equense has held the state concession for the bank and authorises diving on it. Guided visits are permitted only through authorised dive centres, a ticket is charged, and a municipal commission fixes how many dives are allowed. In practice you book through an operator that already holds the authorisation rather than arranging anything yourself.
No. The bank has been a zona di tutela biologica since a ministerial decree of 15 June 1993, and a further decree of 22 January 2009 set the protected circle at 1,000 m across. Inside it all fishing is prohibited outright, professional and recreational alike, spearfishing included. That total ban is the reason the fish density on the bank is what it is; it does not, however, close the bank to diving, which is regulated separately by the municipality.
By boat, and only by boat. The bank sits roughly 600 m off the Vico Equense shore between Punta Orlando and Torre Angellara, and dive boats run out from Marina di Stabia or the port of Castellammare di Stabia. The main summit is marked by a yellow mooring buoy lined up towards Vesuvius, and boats tie to it rather than anchoring on the rock.
The walls carry red and yellow gorgonian fans, orange Parazoanthus, sponges and false black coral, with red coral on the deeper rock. The bank is Italy's most important known egg-nursery for the nursehound, Scyliorhinus stellaris: the egg cases are laid onto the gorgonians and the adults rest in crevices year-round. Common eagle rays are recorded from May to September in loose groups of up to eight, and divers report groupers, dentex, moray, European lobster and spiny lobster on the rock.
It is a guided dive with a shallow start, so a newly certified diver can be taken down the line to the cap at 10 m and kept there. What makes it more than a beginner dive is what surrounds that cap: walls that drop away past 45 m and documented strong currents, which means depth and drift both need managing. Note also that the municipal regulation forbids diver training and courses on the bank, so you cannot certify here.
Late spring to autumn. Water at 5 m measured on the bank ranges from about 14 C at its coldest in March to about 28 C in August, and eagle rays are recorded there from May through September. The resident operator advertises them from May to October and puts bluefin tuna in March and April instead. Nursehounds are sighted year-round, so there is no best month for them.
The top of the main summit is only 9 to 10 m down, so it is technically within freediving range, and the water over the cap is often clearer than at the surface. But the bank is 600 m offshore in open water with boat traffic, and the access regime run by the Comune di Vico Equense is built around dives organised by authorised centres. As a snorkelling destination it does not work: the gorgonian walls that make the site are all well below the surface.
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Pelagia noctiluca | occasional | 22 |
| Arca noae | occasional | 17 |
| Pinna nobilis | occasional | 14 |
| Palinurus elephas | occasional | 10 |
| Rhizostoma pulmo | occasional | 10 |
| Parablennius pilicornis | occasional | 8 |
| Diplodus sargus | occasional | 8 |
| Chromis chromis | occasional | 7 |
| Cotylorhiza tuberculata | occasional | 7 |
| Acanthocardia tuberculata | occasional | 5 |
| Oblada melanurus | occasional | 5 |
| Chaetaster longipes | rare | 4 |
| Marthasterias glacialis | rare | 3 |
| Hacelia attenuata | rare | 3 |
| Paracentrotus lividus | rare | 3 |
| Centrostephanus longispinus | rare | 3 |
| Thalassoma pavo | rare | 3 |
| Scorpaena scrofa | rare | 3 |
| Aplysina cavernicola | rare | 3 |
| Columbella rustica | rare | 3 |
| Venus verrucosa | rare | 3 |
| Mimachlamys varia | rare | 3 |
| Olindias malayensis | rare | 3 |
| Dardanus calidus | rare | 2 |
| Pachygrapsus marmoratus | rare | 2 |
| Muraena helena | rare | 2 |
| Phycis phycis | rare | 2 |
| Diplodus vulgaris | rare | 2 |
| Sarpa salpa | rare | 2 |
| Chama gryphoides | rare | 2 |
| Flabellina affinis | rare | 2 |
| Spisula subtruncata | rare | 2 |
| Striarca lactea | rare | 2 |
| Pteria hirundo | rare | 2 |
| Chamelea gallina | rare | 2 |
| Irus irus | rare | 2 |
| Batzella friabilis | rare | 2 |
| Dentex dentex | rare | 2 |
| Peltodoris atromaculata | rare | 2 |
| Thericium vulgatum | rare | 2 |
| Halocynthia papillosa | rare | 1 |
| Scyliorhinus stellaris | rare | 1 |
| Oxynotus centrina | rare | 1 |
| Paguristes eremita | rare | 1 |
| Homarus gammarus | rare | 1 |
| Carcinus aestuarii | rare | 1 |
| Aequorea forskalea | rare | 1 |
| Coscinasterias tenuispina | rare | 1 |
| Ophidiaster ophidianus | rare | 1 |
| Conger conger | rare | 1 |
| Gobius vittatus | rare | 1 |
| Chelon labrosus | rare | 1 |
| Sciaena umbra | rare | 1 |
| Thunnus thynnus | rare | 1 |
| Epinephelus marginatus | rare | 1 |
| Mycteroperca rubra | rare | 1 |
| Crambe crambe | rare | 1 |
| Chrysaora hysoscella | rare | 1 |
| Tursiops truncatus | rare | 1 |
| Anomia ephippium | rare | 1 |
An offshore rock in the Punta Campanella reserve's no-entry zone, with a bronze Madonna on the terrace at 12 m and walls dropping past 50 m.
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