40th Anniversary Celebrations of the Ustica Island Marine Protected Area

Forty years of Italy's first Marine Protected Area

From June 18 to 20, 2026, the Island of Ustica, a small island municipality in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily, celebrated a milestone of national significance: the fortieth anniversary of its Marine Protected Area, the first marine reserve ever established in Italy. Created by decree on November 12, 1986, the Ustica MPA paved the way for a new approach to marine conservation, recognizing for the first time in the country the need to protect underwater ecosystems just as much as terrestrial ones.

A program blending sea, science, and tradition

The three days of celebrations intertwined scientific outreach, sports, and local culture, involving the entire island community and numerous institutional guests. Highlights included:

• Excursions and scuba diving in the crystal-clear waters of the reserve, home to dusky groupers, amberjacks, and barracudas;
• Sailing trips in collaboration with the Italian Naval League;
• Scientific conferences and round tables hosted at the Ustica Island Study and Documentation Center;
• Virtual tours of Sicilian marine protected areas curated by ARPA Sicilia;
• Guided tours of the island's historical, naturalistic, and archaeological sites;
• Food and wine trails with tastings at local farms;
• Commemorative philatelic cancellation by Poste Italiane, activated on June 18.

The arrival of the Palinuro ship

The celebrations kicked off on June 18 with the arrival on the island of the training ship Palinuro, a historic schooner of the Italian Navy and a symbol of Italian maritime tradition. The event's godmother was Carmen Parisio di Penta, co-founder and director of Marevivo. The initiative was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, the Sicilian Region, ISPRA, ARPA Sicilia and Basilicata, the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, Federparchi, and the Italian Naval League.

Ustica, the Italian capital of scuba diving

With its nine active diving centers and one of the richest underwater biodiversities in the Mediterranean, Ustica has been a premier destination for diving enthusiasts for decades. The mayor and president of the MPA, Salvatore Militello, together with director Davide Bruno, seized the anniversary as an opportunity to relaunch research projects, sustainable tourism, and marine protection, ranging from the reactivation of the "Aquarium" building to an international underwater photography competition in the Zone A protected area. A milestone that confirms the pioneering role of this small Sicilian town in safeguarding marine heritage.