Il porticato

Italy · cave · advanced

advancedAOWboat entry

Il porticato

The Punta Salinetto cave, pierced by so many openings on one side that the dive is done in backlight.

cavewallboatswim-through

Max depthnot sourced

Required leveladvanced

Entry typeboat

Visibilitynot sourced

The dive

Il Porticato is the cave at Punta Salinetto, under the Capo Caccia cliffs and just north of Isola Foradada. Capo Galera Diving, which runs it out of Alghero, describes a dive that mixes cave passages with the exploration of the rock face: a run of pillars and arches, one chamber opening into the next, with daylight coming in continuously from the seaward side so that you are looking out towards the light for most of the dive. The walls carry parazoanthus, and the fauna is the ordinary Capo Caccia mix of crustaceans and fish rather than anything unusual. Capo Galera publishes the same dive in English under the name The Colonnade.

What this dive is NOT is one of the entrances to the Grotta di Nereo, and that is worth stating because the two are easy to confuse. The marine protected area's own list of authorised submerged caves contains a cave called Nereo/porticato among the four Nereo entrances, and separately a cave called Porticati / Punta Salinetto. It is the second one that operators mean by Il Porticato: Capo Galera place it under Capo Caccia but away from the Nereo complex, Alghero's dive centres group the Punta Salinetto caves with the Foradada dives, and the Italian Wikipedia entry on the Alghero caves lists Grotta dei Portici as its own submerged cave of the Capo Caccia zone.

The park publishes a position for it: 40 34.214 N, 8 9.393 E, cave number 12 in the 2025 disciplinare attuativo. Our pin is about 250 m south of that. Everything about the dive is governed by that document. It is zone B, so it needs the managing body's authorisation; the cave sets a cavern-diver speciality on top of the second-level certificate the AMP already requires; no more than four divers per guide, two guides and eight divers per dive, ten divers per dive as the site cap, and at most three dives a day on this cave. Daytime only, within 50 m of the mooring, and only through a dive centre the AMP has authorised, which must log every dive in a register the park stamps.

A run of arches and pillars on one side of the rock, so the dive is in permanent backlight
One chamber leading into the next along the Punta Salinetto face
Parazoanthus on the cave walls
Sheltered under the Capo Caccia cliffs beside Isola Foradada

Please note before you go

Overhead environment: a cave with multiple openings, dived under a cavern-diver speciality requirement set by the marine park
The park's cave rules exist because the Capo Caccia caves are extensive; Nereo alone runs about 500 m of galleries, and losing the correct exit is the real risk in this system
Contact with the walls is both a hazard and an offence: the disciplinare forbids touching the bottom or removing anything

Access & rules

Mandatory requirements

Certification required

AOW

Getting there

Boat, through a dive centre authorised by the marine protected area. The park gives the cave's position as 40 34.214 N, 8 9.393 E under the name Porticati / Punta Salinetto; our pin at 40.5680, 8.1576 sits about 250 m south of it, on the same stretch of face. Mooring is on the park's own numbered buoys, and boats may stay only as long as the dive takes.

Operator

Access to the site runs through a local operator.

Restrictions

Authorisation from the AMP Capo Caccia - Isola Piana is required. Diving is allowed in zones B and C only, in daylight only, with at least a second-level certificate, never solo, and within 50 m of the mooring or surface marker. For the submerged caves the park adds a first-level cave speciality (cavern diver or equivalent) for divers and guides, a maximum of four divers per guide, two guides and eight divers per dive, a site cap of ten divers per dive, and no more than three dives per day on this cave. Only authorised dive centres may run guided cave visits, and each dive must be entered in a register stamped by the park.

Rules and permits

Marine protected area Capo Caccia - Isola Piana, established by decree of 20 September 2002; the operating rules are set out each year in the disciplinare attuativo, article 7 in the 2025 edition. Cave teaching is permitted only in the Grotta del Pozzo. Divers must have read the disciplinare and the establishing decree, hold a recognised certificate, and pay a secretarial fee. Contact with the bottom, feeding, and the removal of any geological, biological or archaeological material are all forbidden.

Conditions

Visibilitynot sourced

Currentnot sourced

Surgenot sourced

WaterSalt water

Depth rangenot sourced

Environmentcave

Coralnot sourced

Crowdsnot sourced

A boat run along the Capo Caccia cliffs from Alghero or Porto Conte, a mooring on one of the park's buoys, and a dive that stays within 50 m of it. The cave sits on the Punta Salinetto face beside Isola Foradada, so it is worked in the lee of the promontory rather than out in open water.

On current: No source we could open publishes a depth profile or a current rating for this cave, so we give none. The one page that circulates with figures for the Grotta dei Portici belongs to a dive centre whose site no longer resolves and has no archived copy, and we will not repeat numbers we could not read at the source. What is documented is the regime: the AMP treats this as a cave dive requiring a cavern-diver speciality, and the guide must hold at least the same.

Questions & answers

Is Il Porticato part of the Grotta di Nereo?

No. The marine park's authorised cave list has both a Nereo/porticato entrance and a separate cave called Porticati / Punta Salinetto, and Il Porticato is the second one. Capo Galera Diving place it under Capo Caccia but away from the Nereo complex, and the Italian Wikipedia entry on the Alghero caves lists Grotta dei Portici as its own submerged cave.

How deep is Il Porticato?

We do not publish a depth for it, because no source we were able to open gives one. The operator page describes the topography but no profile, and the marine park's disciplinare gives the position and the quotas without depths. Ask the Alghero centre that takes you; they will brief the profile on the boat.

Do I need a cave certification for Il Porticato?

Yes. The 2025 disciplinare attuativo requires a first-level cave speciality, cavern diver or equivalent, for the authorised submerged caves, on top of the second-level certificate the marine park already requires for any dive in the area. The guide must hold at least the same speciality. Only the Grotta dei Fantasmi is stricter, requiring a full cave certificate.

How many divers are allowed on Il Porticato?

The park caps this cave at ten divers per dive and three dives per day. Within that, a guide may take at most four divers, and no dive may exceed two guides and eight divers. Every dive has to be entered in a register the park stamps, which is how the quota is actually enforced.

Can you snorkel or freedive Il Porticato?

No. This is an overhead environment reached by boat, and the interest is inside it. The marine park allows freediving in zones B and C with authorisation, but the authorised caves are a separate scuba regime built around a cavern speciality. From the surface there is nothing of the cave to see.

Where exactly is Il Porticato?

On the Punta Salinetto face under the Capo Caccia cliffs, beside Isola Foradada, north of the Nereo complex. The marine park gives the position as 40 34.214 N, 8 9.393 E. Our pin sits about 250 m south of that, on the same stretch of rock, so treat the park's figure as the authoritative one.

Do I need a permit, or can I dive it independently?

Guided cave visits may only be run by dive centres the marine protected area has authorised, so in practice you book through an Alghero or Porto Conte centre. Independent divers still need the park's authorisation and must pay a secretarial fee, and solo diving is not allowed anywhere in the area. Daylight hours only.

Life recorded at Il porticato

34 species within 1.5 km · OBIS

Diplodus sargusoccasional · 37 records

Mullus surmuletusoccasional · 20 records

Coris julisoccasional · 10 records

Oblada melanurusoccasional · 9 records

Gammarus subtypicusoccasional · 8 records

Parablennius incognitusoccasional · 7 records

All 34 species recorded in this area

Species	How often	Records
Diplodus sargus	occasional	37
Mullus surmuletus	occasional	20
Coris julis	occasional	10
Oblada melanurus	occasional	9
Gammarus subtypicus	occasional	8
Parablennius incognitus	occasional	7
Diplodus vulgaris	occasional	6
Symphodus roissali	rare	4
Symphodus tinca	rare	4
Gammarella fucicola	rare	3
Thalassoma pavo	rare	3
Sarpa salpa	rare	3
Echinaster (Echinaster) sepositus	rare	2
Aidablennius sphynx	rare	2
Aplysina aerophoba	rare	2
Cymadusa crassicornis	rare	1
Sunamphitoe pelagica	rare	1
Gammarus insensibilis	rare	1
Melita hergensis	rare	1
Melita palmata	rare	1
Calcinus tubularis	rare	1
Pachygrapsus marmoratus	rare	1
Muraena helena	rare	1
Serranus scriba	rare	1
Sphyraena viridensis	rare	1
Cotylorhiza tuberculata	rare	1
Pelagia noctiluca	rare	1
Melarhaphe neritoides	rare	1
Hexaplex trunculus	rare	1
Phyllidia flava	rare	1
Sepia officinalis	rare	1
Felimare orsinii	rare	1
Tripterygion tripteronotum	rare	1
Thericium vulgatum	rare	1